
Class __iAlZl 
Book 



GENERAL SURVEY 



PRESENT SITUATIOxN OF THE PRINCIPAL POWERS: 



WITH CONJECTURES 



FUTURE PROSPECTS 




A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BOSTON : 

rUBHSIIEl) BY OLIVER EVERETT, NO. 6 COURT STREET, 
AND CUMMIITGS AND HILLIARD, NO. 1 CORNHILL. 

Hilliard & Metcalf, printers, 

1822. 



_1) iB 



E^^ 



DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT: 

District Clerk's Office. 
Be it remembered, that on the eighteenth day of December, in the forty-sixth year 
of the indtpendence of the United States of America, Oliver Everett, of the said 
district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims 
as proprietor, in the words following', viz. 

" Europe : or a general survey of the jn-esent situation of the principal powers ; with 
conjectures on their future prospects. By a Citizen of the United States." 

In conformity t(i the act of the congress of the United States, entitled, " An act for 
the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the 
authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned ;"' and 
also to an act, entitled, " An act, sunplementary to an act, entitled, an act for the 
encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the 
authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extend- 
ing the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and 
odier prints." 

J, W. DAVIS, 
' "• . _ Clerkof the District of Massachusetts. 

- - 1 » 



4 ^ I 'o 



CONTENTS 



Prefatory Letter 3 

Chap. I. — Introductory remarks on the general 

causes of the present political agitations 5 p^i-f- 

Chap. II. — France 35 

Chap. III. — Spain and Portugal . . . . 119 

Chap. IV. — Italy and Greece 138 

Chap. V. — Germany, including Austria and 

Prussia • . 14G 

Chap, VI. — Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and the 

Netherlands 229 

Chap. VII. — Great Britain 244 

Chap. VIII. — The balance of power . . . 331 

Chap. IX.— The British Navy 395 

Chap. X. — Concluding Reflections . . . 420 



PREFATORY LETTER. 

I FEEL much pleasure, my dear brother, in com- 
plying with your request, that I would furnish you 
with a general sketch of the present political situa- 
tion of Europe. You are aware of the uncertainty 
of all speculations of this sort upon contemporary 
events. At the present moment they are particularly 
hazardous, on account of the rapidity with which 
important occurrences of the most opposite character 
now succeed each other. The history of every fol- 
lowing week refutes the statements and anticipations 
of the one that went before ; and the most intrepid 
prophets have begun to be weary of the profession. 
M. de Pradt himself has for some time been silent. 
Under these circumstances you will not be surprised 
if my opinions and conjectures are completely con- 
tradicted before they reach you. Should they for- 
tunately escape this accident, you will still consider 
them only as an extended newspaper article, which 
may very probably lose its interest at the next arri- 
val. 

Sept. 1, 1821. 



EUROPE: &r 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory remarks on the general causes of the 
present political agitations. 

The course of events in Europe since the final 
fall of Bonaparte has been, I believe, as unexpected, 
as it is in every point of view remarkable. A variety 
of circumstances concurred to produce an uncom- 
mon uniformity of feeling and interest among the 
several nations, and the different classes of society, 
at the period immediately preceding the Congress 
of Vienna. The national jealousies resulting from 
the ancient balance of power, and the political feuds 
connected with the earlier periods of the revolution, 
had all disappeared under the mtolerable tyranny of 
Napoleon. The continental sovereigns forgot their 
habitual enmities, and even the distant stateliness 
of their ordinary habits of intercourse in this hour 
of common danger, and acted together with the 
cordiality and intimacy of personal friends. Liberty 



G 

had long before withdrawn from the banners of 
France and enlisted under those of her enemies : so 
that the people entered every where into the views 
of their governments with enthusiasm, upon the 
same principles of independence, which sometimes 
lead them to opposition. France herself, with the 
exception perhaps of the army, was disposed to re- 
gard the allies as deliverers, rather than as enemies. 
It was an ' era of good feelings,' like that which now 
exists in the United States ; and which it may be 
hoped will be of longer duration. The uses of 
adversity were exhibited in the high minded spirit 
which directed all the proceedings of the allies 
among themselves, and in their relations with 
France at the time of the first invasion. Politicians 
and sovereigns who had previously submitted with 
rather an ill grace, if at all, to the common restraints 
of morals, seemed to have risen all at once to the 
loftiest heights of chivalry ; and even cool observers 
began to indulge a hope, that political affairs would 
wear in future a new aspect. It seemed as if the 
French revolution, after failing, at least for a time, 
in its direct attempts to accomplish any considerable 
good, was destined to reform the world by reaction. 
"Certainly any person, who at the time of the treaty 
of Paris had predicted that within six years a gen- 
eral dissatisfaction would grow up between the 



rulers and the people, in almost all the civilized 
parts of Europe — that there would be four military 
revolutions, besides innumerable changes of minis- 
try — and that discord would even throw her apple 
into the divine assembly of the Holy Alliance — 
certainly such a person would have been looked 
upon, to say the least, as a very bold prophet. 

These unexpected events are variously explained 
by different persons and parties, according as they 
are led by their position in society, their interests, 
or their opinions, to approve or disapprove them. 
It is thought by some, and the system has even been 
countenanced by the public declarations of the three 
northern powers, that all these violent convulsive 
movements result from the wild and desperate 
coalition of a few individuals, leagued together in 
secret societies, and that by the detection and ex- 
emplary punishment of the ringleaders, the public 
tranquillity may be immediately and permanently 
restored. It is also stated on official authority, that 
by certain seizures of persons and papers in the 
North of Italy a clue has been obtained by which 
the secrets of the conspiracy will be unravelled : 
and, if the general idea be correct, it may be pre- 
sumed that there will soon be no danger of any 
further revolutions. 



But, in reality, it is rather a poor compliment to 
the stability of thrones and governments to suppose 
that they can be shaken by the efforts of a few 
obscure and unprincipled wretches, like Thistle- 
wood and Louvel. In the moral, as in the physical 
sciences, we must account for effects by supposing 
causes adequate to their production : and, in good 
earnest, is it by such a machinery as this, that sev- 
eral important kingdoms can be revolutionised, and 
a general alarm spread through the whole of Eu- 
rope ? The very powers, which affect to hold this 
language, give but slender confirmation of it in their 
practical measures. Had they been serious in these 
assertions, should we have seen them holding Con- 
gress after Congress, and putting their troops in 
motion from Kamschatka to the borders of France ? 
Their language is in fact as inconsistent with itself, 
as it is with their j)roceedings. While they employ 
at times the contemptuous tone to which I have 
alluded, they shew on other occasions that they have 
a correct perception of the character of the present 
agitations of Europe ; and regard them in their true 
light, as a continuation of the great revolutionary 
movement, which was checked and compressed for 
a time by the despotism of Bonaparte, but only 
waited for his fall to begin its march again with 
a renewed impulse. This being the real state of the 



case, as no reasonable man can doubt for a moment, 
it is quite idle to look for the root of the evil in 
obscure associations and treasonable plots — or in 
the desperate fanaticism which may have led to the 
assassination of a poet in one country and a prince 
in another. These occurrences are symptoms, slight 
in importance, as to their effect upon the interest at 
stake, but proving by their atrocity the strength of 
the principles which are at work ; and those persons 
who are interested in checking the progress of po- 
litical information, might think themselves very for- 
tunate, if such obscure and feeble enemies were all 
they had to contend with. 

The present agitations must therefore be regarded 
as resulting from the same general causes that pro'^ 
duced the French revolution. It would be super- 
fluous to investigate these causes here in detail. 
However individual opinions may A^ary as to the 
effect of particular measures, or accidental circum- 
stances ; — as to the favourable or unfavourable in- 
fluence of the prominent political characters of the 
time on the progress of events ; — it is now generally 
admitted by observing men, that the revolution had 
been slowly and gradually brouglit about by the 
changes in the state of society resulting from the 
progress of industry, wealth and knowledge ; or in 
one word, of civilization. This change in the state 
% 



10 

of society was the real revolution ; and this had 
been accomplished a long time before the events 
occurred, to which the name is commonly affixed. 
The violent explosion was little else than the break- 
ing down of antiquated and obsolete forms, from 
which the spirit had long since departed : and the 
assumption of their share in the appearances of 
power by a portion of society which already posses- 
sed it in reality. 

The same general circumstances, which existed 
in France, were also to be found, with different 
modifications, in almost all the continental countries. 
In all, with unimportant exceptions, the existing 
forms of administration had been established at a 
period when the land constituted the only property ; 
and when the human cultivators of the soil were 
intellectually nearly on a level with their brutal 
fellow labourers. That the military proprietors, who 
styled themselves nobles, should at that time exer- 
cise the whole political power, was a necessary 
consequence of the existing state of things. It was 
not quite so natural, that the descendants of these 
individuals should continue to monopolize all the 
power at a period when, in consequence of the rise 
and progress of industry and wealth, another class 
of proprietors had grown up in the community, 
generally more intelligent than the landholders, and 



n 

certainly as strongly interested in the proper admin- 
istration of the public affairs. Had the question in 
dispute, however, been merely who should adminis- 
ter the government, and had the class of military 
proprietors conducted the administration with im- 
partiality and ability, it may be doubted whether 
this monopoly of power would have created any 
considerable discontent. To administer the public 
affairs, like all other business, is in itself a care and 
a labour : and could the mercantile and industrious 
proprietors have felt a complete certainty that this 
labour, as far as they were interested in its results, 
would be performed in the best possible manner, 
there seems no reason to suppose that they would 
have felt any strong desire to do it themselves. But 
in reality it is impossible that they could ever feel 
this assurance. In public, as in private affairs, no 
individual willingly places his property wholly be- 
yond his own control and inspection, whatever 
confidence he may place in the persons whom he 
employs. Hence the state of things was in itself 
unnatural : but, independently of this, the mercan- 
tile and industrious classes had reason to be satisfied, 
long before they were important enough to be able 
to make themselves heard in society, that they 
should be compelled to endure, not only the neces- 
sary inconveniences of this political situation, but 



12 

all the multiplied and aggravated mischiefs that 
could possiblj be made to flow from it by the most 
wanton abuse of power. That they were excluded 
from the administration of government was a slight 
grievance. It became of more importance when 
governments, instead of consulting and promoting 
their interest, attempted to crush and oppress them 
by every description of imposition and prohibition, 
that could be imagined. Indifference itself must 
have given way to indignation at the revolting in- 
justice displayed by the privileged classes in ex- 
empting themselves by their own act from the taxes 
which they imposed upon the industrious proprie- 
tors. Not content with these arrogant and odious 
assumptions, they pushed their pretensions still 
farther : and claimed, under the name of nobility, 
an inherent and essential superiority of blood and 
race, over their industrious fellow citizens. To live 
in idleness was to live nobly ; and it was a disgrace 
and degradation to exercise any description of man- 
ual and intellectual labour : and it may be remarked 
as a proof how strongly the most unjust and absurd 
opinions fasten themselves upon society by the force 
of habit, that this prejudice still prevails as strongly 
as ever in the higher classes of society. 

Such a state of things necessarily established a 
hostile relation between the industrious classes of 



13 

thn community and the landed proprietors ; the re- 
sult of which was of course determined by the pro- 
gress of events. Had the impulse which gave a 
spring to commerce and industry been less powerful 
and active than it was, they must have sunk under 
the load of so much oppression and contumely ; and 
Europe would now have been grovelling in the 
barbarism of the earliest feudal times, or more 
probably would have fallen still lower in the scale 
of degradation ; and instead of being, as it is, the 
light and glory of the world, would have exhibited 
the sad spectacle of decay and misery that we see 
in Turkey, Persia, and Morocco. Happily the spirit 
of improvement was too powerful to be checked : 
and supposing it, as it has proved to be, sufficiently 
active to give the industrious classes a constantly 
augmenting importance in the community, notwith- 
standing every thing that was done to oppress and 
insult them, it is evident that the privileged pro- 
prietors must have ultimately receded of them- 
selves from their odious pretensions ; or that a period 
would arrive sooner or later under any circumstan- 
ces, when the two interests would come into colli- 
sion. Wealth and knowledge are the ingredients 
of essential power. When the intelligence and 
wealth of the industrious classes had risen to an 
equality with those of the landed proprietors, or 



14 

privileged orders, they would be in substance, equally 
powerful ; and it is not in human nature that they 
should then submit to the degradation and oppres- 
sion which they had been obliged to endure, when 
they were a small and insignificant portion of the 
community. Supposing them even from the force 
of habit to continue to submit to it at this epoch, a 
period would soon arrive, in the progress of their 
increasing influence, when their wealth and intelli- 
gence would be far superior to those of the nobles ; 
as they now are in fact in the civilized parts of Eu- 
rope. Their final emancipation and the struggle 
necessary to effect it must therefore be regarded as 
necessary and inevitable occurrences in the course 
of events. 

Hence the collision of interests, of which so many 
symptoms have appeared in Europe for the last two 
or three centuries ; which, if it did not actually 
cause the Reformation, gave it most of its political 
importance ; which burst out with such a tremen- 
dous explosion in the French Revolution, and is 
now agitating and convulsing, in greater or less 
degrees, every part of Christendom, except Russia 
and the United States, which from precisely oppo- 
site causes are entirely exempt from its influence. 
This collision of interests is not an obscure con- 
spiracy, or an accidental disorder in the political 



15 

world, but a necessary result of the operation of 
general principles. The popular cause — the cause 
of constitutional liberty — is essentially just : and the 
privileged classes who will finally be the only suf- 
ferers from the conflict, are also ultimately responsi- 
ble for its occurrence : because it was their duty to 
foresee it, and to guard against it by accommodating 
of their own accord the forms of administration to 
the changes in the state of society. 

The sovereigns now tell us, it is true, that they 
are responsible to God and not to man for the dis- 
charge of their duty. This the people know : and 
this is one reason, among others, why they wish to 
change the existing political forms, and to be gov- 
erned by rulers, who shall also be responsible to 
man. But they also know that if the sovereigns 
are responsible to God for the discharge of their 
duty, the people are also responsible to God for the 
performance of theirs : and that it is a part of thi^ 
duty to protect their persons and rights from viola- 
tion, whether by brute force, or under the forms of 
law. The late attempts of the Northern Alliance 
to make out a case in their favour by introducing this 
doctrine of the divine right of kings, in its antiquat- 
ed and exploded shape, is perhaps one of the 
strongest proofs they have given of their utter in- 
competence to the task they impose upon them- 



16 

selves of regulating the interests of the civilized 
world, and of the absolute necessity of the political 
reformation they are opposing. Improvements in 
government, they continually urge, should be the 
work of the rulers themselves. In this way they 
are effected without convulsion or danger : while, 
if they are forced upon the rulers from other quar- 
ters, however useful in themselves, they are always 
attended with a greater or less degree of immediate 
positive evil. This doctrine is admirable : and the 
people ask for nothing better, than that their rulers 
would attend to it, and introduce of their own ac- 
cord the necessary changes. But suppose that the 
sovereigns, while they publicly admit in all their 
declarations that the duty of introducing the neces- 
sary improvements belongs to them, forget to per- 
form it in practice, and sanction the existence of 
the most intolerable abuses ; must the nation leave 
the work undone, because the sovereigns might do it 
better if they would consent to undertake it ? What 
if the sovereign himself happens to be strongly in- 
terested in the existing abuse ? Is there no appeal 
for millions of suffering men against the arbitrary 
and capricious or interested decision of a single 
person, his minister or mistress ? These are the 
doctrines of Eastern despotism : and it is honourable 
to the two most enlightened governments in Europe 



17 

that they have withdrawn their countenance from 
an association that avows such disgraceful prin- 
ciples. 

In applying strong expressions to the policy 
adopted by these monarchs, I would not be under- 
stood as intending to impute to them or even to 
their adorers a proportionate degree of personal 
blame : although it is difficult to consider them as 
wholly innocent, since we must suppose, that 
individuals, however much their opinions and feel' 
ings are of necessity under the operation of cir- 
cumstances, may still with honest intentions and 
sufficient inquiry, especially in matters wholly 
practical like these, make a nearer approach to the 
truth. Still their views must, generally speaking, 
be in a great measure the result of their personal 
position, which, on the other hand, is itself the 
result of the political situation of the countries 
they respectively govern. They are the rulers of 
empires in the lowest state of civilization. Such 
empires suppose of necessity an arbitrary form of 
government ; and if the sovereigns, who are called 
to rule over them, are naturally imbued by their 
position with arbitrary principles and feelings, the 
circumstance is not productive of injury, while 
they confine themselves to the administration of 
their own dominions. That a despot should hold 
3 



18 

to the doctrine of despotism is certainly natural ; 
and that slaves must be ruled with a rod of iron, 
may perhaps be admitted. The misfortune is, that 
these powerful despots are placed by circumstan- 
ces in such a situation, that they have the oppor- 
tunity of introducing their arbitrary notions, salu- 
tary enough perhaps in their effects upon their own 
barbarous subjects at home, into the concerns of 
other countries, in different states of civilization, 
and which ought to be governed upon other prin- 
ciples. 

Although it is clearly the interest as well as the 
duty of the privileged classes in Europe, upon a 
large and correct view of their position, to accom- 
modate the existing forms of government by their 
own voluntary act to the altered state of society, 
still as immediate interest generally predominates 
in determining human actions, such sacrifices could 
not have been anticipated as probable. Hence the 
period when the wealth and importance of the 
industrious classes should have risen to such a 
height as to give them reasonable hopes of success 
in an open conflict with the privileged orders was 
naturally to be looked to as the Age of Revolutions : 
and this is the period in which we live. The ap- 
proach of it was not sudden and unexpected. It 
did not burst upon the world in thunder without 



19 

affording time for preparation to meet the shock. 
Those who have suffered, and are still to suffer by 
it, had sufficient warning ; and if the understand- 
ing of the governments had been on a level with 
the intelligence of the age, they had ample leisure 
and opportunity to take all the necessary precau- 
tions for preventing the impending danger. Through 
the whole of the last century, there prevailed 
among the reflecting men in France, not a vague 
conjecture, but a settled conviction, which may be 
now found repeatedly expressed in a thousadid 
passages of their writings, that the existing insti- 
tutions could not stand. Rousseau applies the 
remark to the thrones of Europe in general ; and 
every day's experience bears witness to his sagaci- 
ty. But anticipations of this description attract 
no attention in the quarter where they might be 
useful, till the crisis arrives. It is thus with Great 
Britain at the present day. The coolest and most 
sagacious political philosopher, that perhaps ever 
appeared in Europe — a Tory in principle — pointed 
out more than half a century ago an approaching 
crisis in the financial affairs of that country. This 
crisis has come on more slowly than he antici- 
pated, and the period at which he predicted that it 
would arrive has already passed. Still the prin- 
ciples on which his calculation are grounded were 



20 

not conjectural, but of an exact and mathematical 
certainty. His views have been assented to and 
confirmed by almost all subsequent inquirers who 
have attended to the subject. It has been per- 
ceived that the delay has not been owing to the 
incorrectness of the principles on which the predic- 
tion was founded — that the danger is still as certain 
as ever, unless something is done to prevent it — and 
that the crisis will be only the more dreadful when 
it arrives, from the slowness of its advances. Does 
the British Government attend to these predic- 
tions, and employ itself while it is time in taking 
the proper precautionary measures ? Not at all. 
They content themselves with sneering at pre- 
tended prophets, and affirming that as things have 
gone very well thus far, they must of necessity 
continue to proceed in the same way forever. The 
infatuation of the French Government was pre- 
cisely of the same description, or possibly still more 
profound ; for the individuals composing it, plunged 
as they were in the lowest depths of debauchery, 
were probably quite unconscious that any sinister 
predictions existed. 

The present age — the age of Revolutions — will 
doubtless be recorded in history as one of the most 
remarkable epochs in the progress of society, and 
it may be hoped will be productive of the most 



21 

important and beneficial results. It is an age dis- 
tinguished for great personal talent and activity — 
for daring enterprises sometimes defeated but often 
successful — for a prodigious development of every 
description of power, intellectual, physical and 
moral. It is also of necessity an age of confusion 
and disorder — of violence, and I may add of much 
positive guilt. The virtues, if they exist at all, 
must exist as habitual traits of character ; and an 
age of great commotion is not favourable to the 
preservation of permanent habits of any kind, in 
the individuals who are placed by character or 
circumstances within the sphere of its influence. 
The Christian world — I may say — the globe itself, 
(for the movement seems to be extending very rap- 
idly beyond the bounds of Christendom,) is rocked 
to its centre by a great convulsion. Empires that 
bear the name of colonies have shaken or are now 
shaking off the shackles of dependence. In Amer- 
ica alone eight or ten powerful nations are bursting 
at once into new forms of existence. In the old 
world reformation and transformation are every 
where the watch words ; and the bayonet the uni- 
versal instrument for obtaining new advantages or 
securing the old. There never was a period in 
history when Europe exhibited any thing like the 
array of military and naval force, which has beea 



22 

habitually on foot for the last thirty years. The 
wars of the Reformation shrink into skirmishes, by 
the side of these Titanian campaigns. Even the 
multitudinous and tumukuous hosts of the Cru- 
saders are of small account, when we see a single 
monarch maintaining a peace establishment of more 
than eight hundred thousand disciplined troops. 
In such times energy rather than moral virtue is 
the dominant quality. The wise and good are 
slow to engage in these violent enterprises, always 
hoping that the expected advantage may be ob- 
tained at less cost from the gentler operations of 
nature. They look with distrust and apprehension 
upon revolutions, however just the principles and 
however probable the ultimate benefit. While they 
are waiting, the ardent and ambitious rush forward 
and commence the work. If cooler and more 
thoughtful spirits lend some assistance at first, they 
are soon thrown out in the race ; and the effort for 
improvement degenerates into a conflict of perso- 
nal interests and passions. In this desperate struggle 
the peaceful pursuits of the people are interrupted, 
the purest blood flows in torrents, and the happi- 
ness of one or two generations is almost wholly 
sacrificed. Such is but too often the general 
aspect of a revolution. I mention it, because in 
expressing a favourable opinion of the principles and 



23 

probable results of the present effofts for political 
reform, I would not be understood to approve of 
revolutions in general, or in particular of all the 
late movements in various quarters that pass under 
this name in their details. The best friends of 
liberty have always looked with distrust on revo- 
lutions ; though sometimes compelled to resort to 
them as a refuge from still greater evils. The 
happiest revolutions, says Rousseau, would he 
dearly purchased by the blood of a single individ- 
ual : — an exaggerated expression of a just and 
humane idea. It is a rare occurrence indeed, and 
can only happen by a most singular blessing of 
Providence, when, as in our revolution, the wisesfe 
and the best men in the nation take the lead from 
the beginning, and retain it steadily through the 
whole. The people, who had the good sense and 
the virtue to submit to such authority in times 
when established forms and accustomed restraints 
had lost their influence, proved themselves to be 
worthy of independence. And it is not the least 
advantage of the happy institutions, which they 
have bequeathed to us, that political reforms may 
be introduced whenever they appear expedient, 
without even the apprehension of violence. 

Without dwelling any longer on these general 
principles, which at this day would probably pre- 



24 

sent but little novelty, were there even opportunity 
here for the discussion ; I shall confine myself to 
a few deductions from them in regard to the pre- 
sent state of Europe in general, and shall then pro- 
ceed to offer some more particular remarks upon 
the situation of the most important members com- 
posing this great political body. 

Admitting then, what it has not been my object 
to prove, but merely to state, that the spirit of 
political improvement now at work throughout the 
world is the necessary and natural result of the 
progress of civilization, that is, of industry, wealth 
and knowledge — it is easy to calculate with suffi- 
cient probability the respective strength of the 
interests which it brings into collision, and which 
we see in various countries engaged, in one form or 
another, in actual conflict. The points at issue 
between the parties to these struggles are treated 
very often as matters of opinion and abstract right. 
For the present purpose I lay these considerations 
entirely out of the case, although in the course of 
my remarks I may perhaps have occasion to touch 
slightly upon some of the controverted questions. 
I lay them out of the case, not only because opin- 
ions of all parties are in general determined by their 
interests, but because, whether right or wrong, it is 
not in the character of their opinions that the 



25 

strength or weakness of their cause is to be found. 
We may venture to hope perhaps that at one time 
or another — in this world or the next — the right 
side will always be the strongest. At present this 
is not uniformly the case : and in order to judge of 
the strength of a party or opinion it is necessary to 
ascertain, not whether it is right or wrong, but 
what amount of interest is connected with it, and 
what opposed to it : how large and important a 
portion of society finds advantage respectively in 
promoting or defeating its general objects. 

Now it may be taken for granted as a clear 
proposition, that the whole body of society is interest- 
ed in the progress of civilization. The happiness of 
all classes is alike promoted by the augmentation of 
industry in its several branches of agriculture, com- 
merce and manufactures ; by the additional comforts 
and enjoyments which it distributes through the 
community in various proportions but in greater or 
less degrees to all, and by the progress of knowl- 
edge, which, however at times misapplied, always 
tends, in its general results, to the public good. 
Admitting then that political improvement is one 
of the objects to be effected in the progress of civ- 
ilization, the interest promoted by it is the interest 
of the whole society ; and the property and intel- 
ligence of the society at large, are consequently in 
4 



26 

a general view of the subject enlisted every where 
in its support. 

Who then is opposed to it ? What interest 
sustains the opposite party in these difficult and 
disastrous struggles? The answer is familiar. 
The interest in question is the interest connected 
with such existing institutions, as are injurious to 
the general good and would be destroyed by the 
progress of political improvement. Those who 
derive personal advantages from these institutions 
naturally oppose every thing, however generally 
beneficial, which tends to overthrow them, on the 
same principles, which led the worthy silversmiths 
of Ephesus in ancient times to resist the progress 
of Christianity. They had not inquired into its 
evidences or reflected much upon its general influ- 
ence ; they only knew that it would ruin the craft, 
by which they had their wealth. If then we regard 
the whole of Europe as forming one body politic, 
divided into parties in regard to the great question 
of political reformation now so violently agitated, 
there will be found on one side the whole mass of 
population, not interested in the support of existing 
institutions injurious to the public welfare ; and on 
the other the individuals deriving personal benefit 
from these institutions, with all that part of the 
population, which is under their influence. 



27 

Such are the present circumstances of Europe 
that the forces enlisted on opposite sides by these 
contending interests are nearly balanced ; and they 
are separated pretty exactly by a geographical line. 
In all the Western part of Europe, civilization and 
political improvement in its train, have already 
made such progress that they have in a great meas- 
ure broken down, in substance, if not in form, all 
injurious institutions : and here there is really no 
interest of any consequence engaged in support of 
such establishments or opposed to the cause of 
liberal principles and good government. The East- 
ern part of Europe on the contrary is yet in a great 
measure uncivilized. Russia, the dominant power 
in that quarter, as a nation, is wholly so. There, 
the existing institutions are all the growth of barba- 
rous times, accommodated to barbarous manners, 
and wholly at variance with the habits and feelings 
of civilized nations. Still a certain portion of the 
society derives a vast individual importance from 
their existence, and would probably oppose with 
vigor any attempt to overthrow them. Independ- 
ently of which, the nations themselves are not yet 
sufficiently improved to meditate such attempts or 
to wish for change. But though at present entirely 
safe from any attack at home, the rulers naturally 
look with jealousy upon the progress of different 



principles in other contiguous countries. When 
they see a spirit adverse to their importance passing 
like an electric shock from nation to nation, they 
begin to apprehend with reason that if not checked 
in time, it will soon penetrate into their own 
quarters and attack the foundation of their power 
and wealth. It is therefore on general principles a 
natural and necessary though an unfortunate result 
of their position, that they employ their influence 
and even their arms to prevent in foreign countries 
the most salutary and useful innovations. And in 
these enterprises they carry with them the whole 
weight of the communities they respectively gov- 
ern, which, in the present state of civilization, are 
nothing more than blind instruments in the hands 
of their rulers. They also find assistance abroad, 
in all that portion of society in the West of Europe, 
which is connected with the mouldering remnants 
of abuses which have been destroyed in substance : 
in that part which has personally suffered by polit- 
ical improvements and still retains a lingering hope, 
that the ancient state of things will be completely 
restored. Along the geographical line which 
divides these adverse interests lies the debateable 
ground, where at present they come to open phys- 
ical collision. In the whole of Italy and in the 
western part of Germany, civilization has risen to 



29 

as high a point as in any part of Europe : but the 
Eastern despots avail themselves of their proximity 
and of the circumstances which now neutralize in 
a great measure the active power of the Western 
nations, to maintain the ascendency of antiquated 
forms and establishments inconsistent with civiliza- 
tion, by their great influence, and when occasion 
requires at the point of the bayonet ; as we have 
seen in the kingdoms of Sardinia and Naples. 

I have observed that these two great European 
parties were at the present moment in respect of 
power pretty nearly balanced. In fact their popu- 
lation numerically computed is not very unequal : 
and if the Western nations are infinitely more 
wealthy, the Eastern are in proportion more war- 
like, and are also more completely at the disposition 
of their rulers. It may be feared that upon the 
whole the preponderance of power, in the present 
^tate of circumstances, is against the cause of im- 
provement. The Western and civilized nations are 
exhausted and impoverished by their late protracted 
struggle, torn by parties, disunited among them- 
selves, or acting together like cold and heartless 
allies, and apparently almost insensible of the com- 
mon bond of interest that unites them all. On the 
other hand the Eastern despots have come out of 
the war with augmented rather than diminished 



30 

.strength. Their armies are the best discipHiied 
and most numerous in Europe, their subjects are 
tranquil, and their own political union complete and 
cordial. If they had but the command of more 
abundant financial resources there is nothing to 
prevent them from sweeping the continent unre- 
sisted from Hamburg to Cadiz, as they have swept 
it already from the Tyrol to Calabria. Want of 
credit is their weak point, and in the nature of 
things must remain so, because wealth and credit 
suppose a higher state of civilization than the na- 
tions they rule over have attained, or than is com- 
patible with the institutions on which their power 
is founded. 

From the remarks which have been made respect- 
ing the character and respective forces of the parties 
now contending in Europe, may be deduced a 
number of general conclusions in regard to the pro- 
gress and ultimate result of the struggle, which 
would also admit of an extensive development. 
I shall be obliged to content myself with a simple 
statement of some of the most important. 

As the cause of political improvement is 
identical with that of civilization and general 
prosperity, every measure that has a tendency to 
produce these eifects, whatever may be the views 
with which it is taken, tends also to the promotion 



31 

of liberal institutions. Thus if the Emperor of 
Austria, at the same moment that he is crushing 
the constitutional party in Naples and Sardinia, is 
encouraging the cultivation of the vine in Hungary 
or the commerce of Trieste ; he is promoting indi- 
rectly by one set of measures the progress of the 
very principles and institutions which he is endeav- 
ouring to check in another. The Russian gov- 
ernment carefully prohibits the entry of French 
pamphlets and newspapers, but admits very readily 
the introduction of the works of their standard 
writers, and the exquisite products of their skill 
in the arts. And yet a tragedy of Racine or a case 
of Champagne is a stronger argument in favour of 
liberal ideas than any to be found in the Minerva 
or the Co7istitutional. 

Again, and this remark is the converse of the 
former : no effectual measures can be taken to 
oppose the progress of liberal ideas, except such as 
strike at the root of the general prosperity of a 
country in all its branches. To prohibit or dis- 
courage agriculture, commerce, and manufactures is 
the only certain way of checking political improve- 
ment. Now such measures are not only too odious 
to be resorted to ; but are directly contrary to the 
immediate interest of the sovereigns themselves, 
who derive for a time a great increase of impor- 



32 

tance from the growing wealth and prosperity of 
their subjects. Hence civilization will of necessity 
continue to follow its natural course, and will bring 
with it such changes in the form of social institu- 
tions as it is fitted to produce. 

It may be added that even the violent measures 
taken by the sovereigns to check the progress of 
constitutional principles — the late invasion of Italy — 
indeed the whole series of wars directed against the 
principles of the French revolution or its abuses — 
while they temporarily crushed or checked these 
principles in one form, have added in an other an 
immense accession to their actual strength. I 
allude here to the effect which these wars have 
produced upon the finances of all the great pow- 
ers, to the vast creation of public debt, which is 
certainly one of the most remarkable phenomena 
of modern times. Now this prodigious creation of 
artificial capital operates to a very great extent, if 
not to its full nominal amount, as a transfer or 
cession of property from the landed proprietors to 
the industrious and mercantile classes. These loans 
are realized in the form of rents, and are ultimately 
a charge upon the laud, and its owners ; while in 
the hands of the capitalists the securities that rep- 
resent them are equivalent to money. Thus the 
Emperor of Austria, to defray the expenses of his 



late attack upon the principles of liberty in Italy, 
has borrowed, at high interest, a large sum of our 
countryman, Mr David Parish, and certain associ- 
ates. What is the effect of this operation ? It 
throws the weight of an amount of property equal 
to the loan into the scale of the general mercantile 
interest of Europe and the world, which, as I have 
taken for granted, is essentially and necessarily that 
of civilization and political improvement ; and it 
charges the exj)enses of keeping this capital in 
existence upon the landed proprietors of the Aus- 
trian Empire. Thus if the injury done to the cause 
of liberty by this invasion is estimated in money at 
the amount expended in effecting it, the injury done 
to the cause of despotism is precisely twice as 
great, because an equal sum is taken from its ad- 
herents and given to its adversaries. 

The only offset to these great advantages is, that 
the sovereigns occasionally take the liberty of 
declaring themselves bankrupt, by which operation 
a part of the new capital is annihilated. If the 
^vhole amount of property, now existing in Europe 
in the form of public debt, ^a ere compared with the 
amount of property of all other kinds, estimated at 
its actual value in money, it would probably be 
found that the former is not much inferior to the 
latter. It may be looked upon as a mass of prop- 



34 

erty created at the expense of existing establish- 
ments in favour of the cause of political improve- 
ment, and furnishes one of the most singular 
instances perhaps that could be produced of an 
effect, " counter-working its cause." 

It may be remarked finally, that the ultimate 
issue of the present struggle vv^ill depend upon the 
future progress of civilization. If civilization, 
instead of advancing any farther, should decline 
from its present state and go to decay in the 
countries where it has now attained its greatest 
height, the advance of liberal political principles 
w ill stop with it : and instead of spreading into 
other parts of Europe where they have not yet 
penetrated, their influence will gradually disappear 
from the regions, which they now in greater or less 
degrees enlighten. H, on the contrary, as every 
thing seems to indicate, commerce, manufactures, 
and agriculture — though perhaps labouring at this 
moment under a temporary depression — are likely 
for a long and indefinite future period to advance 
by regularly and rapidly increasing steps, in conse- 
quence of the great increase of population, which 
must necessarily take place in the European settle- 
ments all over the globe, and the consequent great 
augmentation of demand for the products of labour 
in all its forms — then it may be safely asserted, that 



35 

the cause of good government and liberty is also in 
an advancing state, that it will continue to gain 
ground in those }Darts of Europe and the world, 
where its triumph is yet only partial ; and will even 
gradually penetrate into regions, whose population 
is now unanimously arrayed against it, or is too 
barbarous even to form an idea of the existence of 
such a blessing. 

Having thus exhibited the point of view under 
which the general affairs of Europe present them- 
selves to my mind, I shall now consider a little 
more in detail the situation of the principal powers ; 
beginning with France, which has long been the 
central point of European politics. 



CHAPTER II. 

France. 

The situation of France is perhaps more satis- 
factory at present, than that of any other European 
power, whether we consider the advantages which 
it actually enjoys, or its favourable prospects for the 
future. If any thing could afford compensation for 
the crimes and horrors, of which that nation has 
been the theatre for the last thirty years, it would 
be this fortunate and beneficial result. In the 



3G 

midst of these excesses the principles ot liberty, 
which were brought into action at the commence- 
ment of the revolution, have been gradually and 
slowly working out their effects ; and these are 
now manifested in a highly improved state of the 
public and private economy of this great people. 
Doubtless there are still some clouds hanging over 
the future. New convulsions of a certain extent 
and importance may by possibility occur : but 
under any circumstances the substantial advantages 
now enjoyed in France seem to be secure. I shall 
class the remarks, I have to offer upon this subject, 
under the heads of the state of private property — 
the forms of administration — the character of pub- 
lic opinion — and the policy of the cabinet. 

It may appear singular that the finances should 
not be reckoned one of the principal objects of 
consideration, since it is almost the only point of 
importance with some of the great European 
powers. But the French finances are at present 
hi so flourishing and well settled a state, as to leave 
but little room for observation in a political point 
of view. The debt is small, compared with the 
population and resources of the country, and in a 
rapid course of extinction. Taxes, to the full 
amount of the annual expenditare, are collected 
without difficulty, and though high, are apparently 



37 

not excessively burdensome ; and the ominous cry 
of deficit is not heard within the walls of the French 
parliament : no other in the old world, or, I am 
sorry to add, the new, can make the same boast. 
This point alone, if there were no other, would 
give to France a very decided and important ad- 
vantage in respect of political situation, over the 
other European powers. Without dwelling upon 
this head, I proceed therefore to consider the state 
of private property, which has undergone great 
alterations and improvements during the late con- 
vulsions. 

The laws, which give security to private property 
and regulate the distribution of it, are perhaps the 
most important features in the political institutions 
of every country, although generally looked upon 
as of less consequence than those, which determine 
the forms of legislation and administration. Prop- 
erty is in fact the principal element of political 
power. Hence the laws, which regulate the dis- 
tribution of it, regulate at the same time the distri- 
bution of power ; and consequently determine in 
substance the character of the government, what- 
ever may be its outward forms. Property is also 
the means by which individuals procure the advan- 
tages which social institutions were intended to 
secure, as the comforts and enjoyments of life ; — 



edacation — virtuous dispositions — and general hap- 
jDiness. The laws, which regulate the distribution 
of property, determine, therefore, in a great degree, 
the manner in which these blessings shall be dis- 
tributed through the commmiity. It may seem at 
first view paradoxical to assert, that virtuous dispo- 
sitions can be obtained through the medium of 
property ; or, in a shorter phrase, can be bought for 
money. Pope indeed tells us explicitly, that esteem 
and love, the natural results and attendants of 
virtue, were never to be sold : and the remark is 
true in the sense in which it w as intended to be 
understood. It is equally true however, that moral 
depravity is, generally speaking, the necessary 
attendant of extreme and abject wretchedness ; and 
that the best method of securing the general preva- 
lence of virtuous habits through all classes of the 
community is to place within the reach of the 
greatest possible number of persons the means of 
obtaining honestly a share in the comforts of life. 
This is done by regulating the distribution of 
property, in the way best fitted to effect that object. 
Hence the great importance of the laws relating to 
this subject, which have hitherto been too little 
regarded by professed politicians, theoretical and 
practical. 



39 

Before the revolution, the land in France, as in 
most other parts of Europe, was held in large estates, 
which descended, according to the principles of the 
feudal law, to the eldest son. The peasantry had 
no property in the soil. They were the subjects of 
their superiors, and in every respect in an abject and 
miserable state. It is well known, that by some of 
the first measures of the National assembly, the 
feudal principles of succession were abolished, and 
provision made for the equal distribution of estates 
among all the children, male and female ; the owner 
not havhig the liberty of disposing of his property 
even by will, except under great restrictions. These 
new regulations have been ever since and are still 
in regular operation, with a few exceptions in 
favour of the Peers of France and some other high 
dignitaries, who are allowed to establish entails to 
a certain extent. The operation of these laws 
upon private property was greatly accelerated by 
the confiscation and sale of the estates of the 
emigrants and clergy ; and in the general result, the 
peasants have been converted almost universally 
from dependent and wretched labourers into in- 
dependent proprietors. It appears from authentic 
and official calculations that more than one half of 
the heads of families in France already belong to 
this class. The effect of such a cha'nge upon the 



40 

industry, the moral habits, and the happmess of the 
great mass of population, is sufficiently obvious. 
This division of property is the great and essential 
advantage which the French nation has derived 
from the revolution. By this measure they have 
realized the substantial possession of independence 
and freedom ; and it will be very difficult, if not 
impossible, for any human power to impose upon 
them permanently hereafter either the reality or the 
forms of tyranny. 

The immediate result of this division upon the 
state of property and of society is generally admit- 
ted to be good. It is allowed by all, that estates 
were too large before the revolution ; and that great 
public benefit would result from a division and sub- 
division of them for one or two generations. With 
regard to the ultimate effects of the new system, if 
couthmed in operation for an indefinite length of 
time, there is a difference of opinion. The party in 
France, which assumes the name of Royalists, con- 
siders it as too democratic to be compatible with a 
monarchical government, and propositions tending to 
the modification of it have already been made in the 
House of Peers : although nothing has yet been 
done or probably will be at present. Some of the 
most enlightened English politicians, as Mr Malthus, 
have also expressed an unfavourable opinion of it for 



41 

reasons of an opposite character. They regard it 
as adverse to Hberty : and likewise as inconsistent 
with the best possible improvement of the soil. The 
Edinburgh reviewers appear to doubt its advanta- 
ges very strongly ; and indeed I have found but 
few intelligent, persons who expressed a decided 
approbation of it, either in writing or conversation. 
It is not unnatural, however, even supposing the 
system to be as valuable as it is thought by those 
who apj>rove it, that it should be looked upon for a 
while with great suspicion ; considering how bold 
and essential an innovation it is upon a state of 
property still existing in every part of Europe, 
except France and the contiguous countries, which 
made a part of the French empire. Without en- 
tering into a full discussion of the theory of this 
important subject, I shall add a few suggestions, 
tending to shew that the objections to the ne\v sys- 
tem are not perhaps to be regarded as conclusive. 
In order to form a correct opinion of the merits 
of this system, the first thing necessary is to ascer- 
tain with certainty its actual resuhs in fact : and 
upon this point, which is the essential one, the ideas 
of those who are opposed to it appear to me to be 
incorrect. How far will the division of the land 
proceed by the continued operation of this system ? 
Its adversaries affect to fear that it will go the full 
6 



42 



length of the infinite divisibility of matter ; that a 
whole kingdom will be cut up at no remote period 
into inch pieces, and that all the estates in it will be 
literally no bigger than the one described by Juvenal, 
of the size of a lizard, [unius lacertce] which has 
given commentators so much anxiety. We see noth- 
ing of this however in those parts of the United 
States, w here the same law has been long in opera- 
tion, as, for instance, in the state of Massachusetts. 
The real extent to which this division would pro- 
ceed would probably be determined by the state of 
the population. For this purpose the cultivators 
may be considered as the whole community. If 
there were no increase of population, this system 
would create no division of estates. Each family 
producing a son and a daughter, the estates which 
were divided into equal portions between the child- 
ren would be united again by marriage, and remain 
precisely as they were before. But the tendency 
of the system is to increase population as long as a 
country is capable of supporting it, and with the 
increase of population estates would be subdivided, 
until they were reduced to the size just sufficient to 
support an industrious family. Here the subdivision 
would generally stop. If a property just sufficient 
to support a single family descended to several heirs, 
instead of cutting it up among themselves into inch 



43 

pieces, they would sell it, and divide the proceeds. 
A different course might be pursued occasionally by 
improvident individuals, who are found in all clas- 
ses ; and cultivators would sometimes marry, as we 
see persons in other occupations, without any 
reasonable prospect of being able to support a family. 
At this point the check of disease and poverty 
would present itself, as it does now, and prevent the 
possibility of any further subdivision. But in general 
the division would stop at the point I have men- 
tioned, because this is the one defined by self-inter- 
est, the general rule of action, and which in all 
theoretical reasoning must be taken as the universal 
one. 

Again, the writers I have alluded to appear to 
think that this principle would produce an universal 
equality in the size of all estates. No individual 
would possess more wealth or influence than the rest ; 
and independently of the unfavourable effect that this 
state of things might have upon the higher and more 
liberal pursuits that form the grace and ornament of 
social life, and which could hardly be cultivated in 
straitened circumstances, it is thought to be incom- 
patible with political independence. It would le^d 
directly, says Malthus, to military despotism. What- 
ever might in fact be the result of such an equality, 
the existence of it seems to be wholly chimerical. It 



44 

is true that tlie land would then be thrown into the 
common market, with every other description of 
property, and placed at the command of skill and 
industry. But there is no more reason why they 
should produce an exact equality of property among 
the cultivators, than that the present state of things 
in Europe should produce such an equality among 
the persons engaged in commerce or manufactures, 
where we know that the inequalities are still greater 
than in land. It may be shown indeed by mathe- 
matical demonstration, that when every description 
of property is entirely unfettered by artilicial insti- 
tutions, there will exist of necessity the greatest va- 
riety in the amount of individual estates, that is 
possible in the nature of things. Suppose, for ex- 
ample, that a hundred persons are playing at a game 
of skill for a sum of a hundred thousand dollars, 
and that their skill is respectively in the ratio of the 
ascending series of numbers from one to a hundred. 
Their shares in the sum at stake at the close of the 
game will be in the same proportion, and will stand 
in relation to each other, as 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. to 100; 
and this is the greatest possible variety which can be 
effected by the division of this sum among a hun- 
dred i)ersons. This is the image of a society where 
the whole of the common property is thrown into a 
general stqck, from which each individual membej: 



45 

draws his share, according to his laltnts and indus- 
try. As the varieties of these are infinite, tlie vari- 
ety of fortunes will be infinite likewise. But in the 
case we are supposing, if two or three large sums, 
say of ten thousand dollars each, are taken from the 
common stock, and given gratuitously to two or 
three of the players, the possible variety will be 
diminished, instead of being augmented. If the 
persons thus favoured happen to be the best players, 
their shares at the close may be larger than any 
that would have existed on the former supposition , 
but on the whole, the variety of shares must be less 
considerable, because the causes that produce it 
operate within a narrower compass. 

Thus it appears that the practical operation of 
this system is to increase the population, as long as 
the country is capable of suj)porting it, and to dis- 
tribute the whole property of the community among 
its members, on the principle of the greatest possible 
variety of fortunes ; the smallest landed estates be- 
ing in general large enough to support an industri- 
ous family. It can hardly be denied that such a 
state of property is preferable to the one resulting 
from feudal principles, nor does it seem to be attend- 
ed with the inconveniences v/hich have been appre- 
hended. If we suppose, with Malthus, tliat the 
subdivision of the whole coimtrv into verv small 



46 

estates tends to introdace military despotism, then 
this system is more adverse to it than any other that 
can be imagined, because it leads, as we have seen, 
to the greatest possible variety of fortunes. In 
France, says the Edinburgh Review, there can be 
no landed aristocracy, to fill the provincial magistra- 
cies with respectability and advantage to the coun- 
try. It is true, that there are not at present, and 
probably never will be, any landholders with annual 
incomes of 100,000 and £150,000 sterling, as in 
England ; and the absence of them is hardly an evil. 
That there will be a want of magistrates, or of 
lawyers, is, I am afraid, the last thing to be appre- 
hended in France, or any other civilized community. 
Nor does the apprehension appear to be very re- 
markably justified by a statement in another passage 
in the same article, that there are 5600 judges in 
France to do the business, which is done in England 
by 21. The natural aristocracy of a country, says 
the Review with justice, cannot be created by laws. 
How then can it be created by the laws of entails ? 
The natural aristocracy is that of talents, wealth, 
and virtue. This will always exist in the most 
flourishing state, where there is the widest field and 
the amplest reward for the exercise of talent and 
virtue ; and it is not favoured by artificial fetters on 
the circulation of property. If there be in reality 



47 

in England a more respectable class of middling pro- 
prietors than in France, which may be doubted, it 
is not owing to the law of entails, but to the circum- 
stance, that England is at the present moment a 
richer country than France, in proportion to its 
population ; and as the new system in France will 
produce a great increase of wealth, it will tend, 
more than any thing else, to supply this deficiency. 
Indeed, the difference of situation between England 
and France in regard to the principle of distributing 
property does not appear sufficient to produce any 
great practical difference of circumstances : since it 
seems from the calculations of Colquhoun, that the 
amount of property, of which the circulation is not 
perfectly free, does not much exceed a twentieth part 
of the whole. 

How far this system is compatible with a mo- 
narchical form of government is a different question. 
In this particular the apprehensions of the French 
royalists may not be wholly groundless. A country 
without artificial inequalities in the distribution of 
property and personal privileges is substantially 
republican. Experience alone can determine wheth- 
er under such circumstances the form of monarchy 
can be preserved. In China this combination ap- 
pears to have existed for upwards of three milleni- 
ums ; and it is therefore not essentially impossible. 



48 

It may be doubted whether it will ever be in the 
power of the stirring spirits of the European world 
to produce an example of the same kind at home. 
And whatever the French royalists may think of 
it, whose personal interest is at stake, the disap- 
pearance of the forms of monarchy in a country, 
from which the substance has long since departed, 
would be a matter of very little importance to the 
nation or the world at large. As to the gratuitous 
remark of Malthus and the Edinburgh reviewers, 
that a military despotism would follow of course 
upon the heels of the republic, it is both a mere as- 
sertion without any attempt at proof, and, as we 
have seen, proceeds upon false suppositions in regard 
to the state of property. The same prediction has 
been liberally extended to our own republic, by 
most of the European politicians ; but after an ex- 
perience of nearly half a century, we do not find its 
accomplishment at all more probable than at the 
first moment. 

I conclude, then, that the new state of property 
which has been brought about by the revolution is 
a great and essential improvement in the situation 
of France. In this advantage, and in the flourishing 
state of the public finances, consists principally the 
superiority of her present position over that of the 
other European powers. In other respects, such as 



49 

the forms of administration, the state of public opin- 
ion, and the policy of the cabinet, neither the pres- 
ent aspect of her affairs, nor her immediate future 
prospects are very flattering. 

1 . The forms of administration are still in a great 
measure unsettled, although the seventh year of the 
new reign has elapsed. I speak not so much of the 
degree of stability, which may be attributed to the 
reigning dynasty, but rather of the composition of 
the legislative body, which, in a representative gov- 
ernment, is a matter of much more importance. To 
invent new systems of election and to alter them 
before they have had time to be fairly tried, has 
been the principal employment of the French gov- 
ernment since the restoration. It must be added to 
the credit of the representation of the people, which 
is often supposed to be the turbulent and revolu- 
tionary element in political systems, that the dispo- 
sition to change has not been exhibited in this de- 
partment, but in that of the executive power ; and 
that the successive modifications of the right of suf- 
frage have been, as it were, forced upon the Parlia- 
ment by the ministry. While in England the Re- 
formers were trampled under foot by dragoons, and 
hunted down under the name of Radicals, as some- 
thing rather worse than wild beasts, while the aris- 
tocratic party in most parts of the continent were de- 
7 



60 

claiming with bitterness against any thing in the shape 
of change ; at the same moment, this party were insist- 
ing in France upon a radical reform in the popular 
representation, as the only means of saving the 
country ; and actually carried it through at the point 
of the bayonet. And the reason of this apparent in- 
consistency was plain enough. In France the aristo- 
cratic party expected to gain by reform. In all the 
rest of Europe they were sure to lose by it. Such 
was the secret of this, as it is of many other con- 
scientious differences of opinion. 

The principles of representative government are 
not yet quite so well settled or so generally under- 
stood, as they probably will be some centuries hence. 
The institution is still recent. It has been put in 
practice till very lately in only two or three coun- 
tries, and from this small number of instances, and 
comparatively short trial, it would be unsafe to draw 
w4th perfect confidence any general conclusions. It 
is highly probable, however, that property exercises 
its natural infiuence in this as in other governments ; 
and that this influence is not much affected by the 
particular forms under which the representative 
system presents itself. If the right of suffrage is 
restricted, it naturally falls into the hands of the 
proprietors, as the prominent members of the com- 
munity. If extended, it is still exercised by persons 



51 

under their influence and of course in their interest. 
Hence the true secret, and only effectual way of giv- 
ing a popular character to a political system, is not 
to extend the right of suffrage, but to distribute the 
property as equally as possible through the commu- 
nity. 

In France as we have seen, this object had 
already been effected to a great extent. Almost 
the whole mass of property had been newly divided 
and distributed : and the proprietors, generally 
speaking, might be said to hold of the revolution, 
as they were all said, under the feudal system, to 
hold of the king. Their interest was of course 
identified with the order of things produced by the 
revolution — their opinions were in accordance with 
its principles — and these opinions would have 
probably been manifested by almost any system 
of suffrage that could have been introduced. They 
pervaded the mass of the people from the highest to 
the lowest ranks, and the whole nation might be 
said in this sense to be completely revolutionary. 
Hence had the king upon his return placed himself 
frankly and honestly at the head of this new order 
of interests, opinions, and feelings, there must have 
been a perfect harmony between the representatives 
of the nation and the government, which would 
have existed alike under any system of elections : 



52 

so that the laws upon this subject would have been 
of slight importance and would probably have 
engaged but little attention. 

Circumstances prevented the government from 
adopting this course of policy. They appeared, 
on the contrary, to look with suspicion on every 
thing connected with the interests and opinions of 
the revolution ; and evidently gave their confidence 
to the adherents of the ancient system, although 
some formal concessions and many fair promises 
were made to the friends of the new. It was 
natural to suppose that the popular interest, alarmed 
at this state of things, would express itself at the 
elections with redoubled energy ; and hence, as it 
was found necessary to preserve the form of a repre- 
sentative government, the difficult problem presented 
itself, to invent a system of popular representation, 
in which the people should not be represented. 
The solution of this problem has occupied almost 
the whole time and attention of the government 
since the restoration; and to do them justice, they 
appear to have succeeded, at least for the moment, 
better than could have been reasonably expected. 

The opinion seems to have been early adopted, 
that the great proprietors would be less favourable 
to the popular cause than the smaller, and accord- 
ingly the Charter itself, which was published in 



53 

1814, at the time of the first restoration, restricted 
the right of voting in the election of deputies to 
persons paying three hundred franks annual taxes — 
leaving most of the other details to be determined 
bj law. Meanwhile, until this law should be passed, 
the legislative body, as it existed under Bonaparte, 
was preserved. No law, however, was passed upon 
the subject before his return from Elba, when the 
house of deputies was dissolved and a new one 
chosen, which was again dissolved at the king's 
second restoration ; and there being still no new 
law to regulate the elections, recourse was had to 
the old imperial system^ for this purpose. Under 
this system the deputies were in substance nomi- 
nated by the government ; and the result was the 
house of 1815 denominated hy the king introuvable 
(undiscoverable) probably in derision ; as he made 
great haste to get rid of it by dissolving it the year 
after. This house held but one session, during 
which a law was proposed by the ministry on the 
subject of elections which was regarded by the 
house as too democratic, and amended by the intro- 
duction of some aristocratic features. In this state 
it was sent to the house of peers and there rejected 
as too aristocratic ; the French government present- 
ing at that time the rather singular spectacle of a 
democratic house of peers, an aristocratic house of 



54 

eoiiiuions, and a neutral ministry. On the 5th of 
September 1816, the house was dissolved by a royal 
ordonnance ; and no law having yet been passed in 
consequence of the disagreement just mentioned, 
recurrence was had again to the old imperial 
system, the ductility of which was then displayed 
in full perfection ; for although from the growing 
influence of Mr de Cases, the ministry had 
assumed a popular character since the last elections, 
the same forms which then discovered the indiscov- 
erable chamber, now brought to light another, con- 
taining a large mcjjority of voices tuned precisely to 
the ministerial pitch. At this time the government 
exhibited a stronger appearance, than at any other 
since the revolution, of an honest intention to em- 
brace the true national policy. There was a perfect 
harmony among the three branches of the legis- 
lative power ; and at the first session of the new 
house of deputies a law was proposed on the sub- 
ject of elections, conferring the right of suffrage, 
agreeably to the charter, upon rather less than a 
hundred thousand of the richest proprietors in 
a nation of nearly thirty million inhabitants. This 
law, aristocratic one would think, if any thing could 
be so, was violently opposed by a party in parlia- 
ment as being of democratic tendency, a circum- 
stance \^hich, with a thousand others, evidently 



23 

proved that this party was not properly aristocratic, 
but anti-national. The law, however, passed by 
handsome majorities, and went into operation at 
the re-election of the fifth part of the house of 
deputies, whose term of service expired at the close 
of the next year. 

The operation of this law was such as had been 
anticipated by its friends and its enemies. It was 
neither aristocratic nor democratic in any obnoxious 
sense of either term. The deputies returned by it 
were universally men of distinguished talents and 
high character, and in most instances of rank and 
property ; but the great majority of them were 
acknowledged friends of the popular and national 
interest, in contradistinction to that of the emigrants. 
The effect of the law in favouring the popular 
cause was no doubt assisted, in some degree, by 
the influence of the ministry, which was then exer- 
cised in the same direction. But that its tendency 
was essentially the same as it appeared to be is 
evident from two circumstances : first, the elections 
under it were, in several cases, more popular than 
was agreeable to the ministry ; and candidates were 
chosen, to whom they were opposed as too demo- 
cratic. Then the election of Mr Benjamin Con- 
stant was defeated at Paris by the ministry, who 
luiited their influence with that of a section of the 



liberal party in sujDport of Mr Ternaux, a wealthy 
manufacturer of the metrop9lis. Constant was, 
notwithstanding, returned at the same election from 
one of the country departments. Secondly : at the 
subsequent trials of the law, and especially at the 
third, when, in consequence of the intervening 
change in the policy of the cabinet, the ministry 
used its influence throughout against the liberal 
candidates, they were notwithstanding elected still 
more generally than they had been before. It is 
evident from these circumstances that the popular 
returns, produced by the law, were not the effect of 
ministerial influence, but the natural result of the 
system. Accordingly when the emigrant party 
obtained the ascendancy in the cabinet, they could 
not venture to depend upon their influence at the 
elections to neutralize the effect of this law, and 
give them such returns as suited their policy, but 
thought it absolutely necessary to new model the 
law itself. If then all other proprietors and inhab- 
itants being first excluded from the right of suflVage 
as too democratic, the hundred thousand richest 
individuals irt the nation exhibited also a decided 
adherence to the popular cause, it follows of neces- 
sity that this is the cause of the nation ; and that 
the whole mass of property is interested in it alike, 
whether in possessibn of the higher or the lower 



57 

ranks of society. The government were therefore 
informed, or might have been, by the result of this 
experiment, that if they chose to adopt with frank- 
ness and pursue with perseverance a liberal policy, 
they should be supported in it by all the property, 
as well as all the population of the country, aid 
that if they entered upon a different one, the same 
forces would be arrayed against them. Such a 
piece of information, one would think, ought not 
to have been lost upon a sagacious and intelligent 
ministry. 

A reaction, however, had commenced against 
the new law almost immediately after its adoption ; 
and in the course of the session of 1818-19 a 
respectable member of the house of peers, the 
Marquis de Barthelemi made a proposition for its 
amendment, which passed in that body. On this 
occasion the law was defended by the ministry 
with great zeal, and the proposition was rejected 
in the house of deputies. It thus appeared that 
while the character of the lower house had been 
growing more popular, that of the upper had been 
taking an opposite direction, although there had 
been very little change in the persons composing it. 
To recover their influence in this branch of the 
legislature, the ministry took the strong measure of 
creating sixty new peers in one day, and this addi- 
8 



68 

tion to the number of their friends restored their 
majority. After these decided demonstrations of 
attachment to the existing system of elections, it 
was hardly to be expected that the government 
itself would insist upon its being changed the very 
next year. But in the interval between this and 
the succeeding session of 1819-20, the tumults in 
England and Germany excited great uneasiness 
in all the governments of Europe ; and the autumnal 
elections of France were not only wholly in the 
liberal interest and much more decidedly so than 
was agreeable to the ministry ; but several nomina- 
tions were peculiarly obnoxious, and that of the 
Abbe Gregoire was regarded as absolutely scan- 
dalous. Notwithstanding this, the ministry exhib- 
ited at first a disposition to adhere to the system ; 
but previously to the meeting of parliament a dif- 
ferent determination was taken, preceded however 
by the retirement of the most popular members of 
the cabinet. It was now resolved, that the min- 
istry itself should propose a change in the system v 
of elections, and the king announced the intention 
in his opening speech. It was probably found 
difficult to arrange the new law, as two or three 
months passed away, without any proposition on 
the subject. Mr de Cases, who still retained his 
place at the head of the council, and has always 



59 

been looked ujDon as firmly attached to the liberal 
interest, appears to have intended as far as possible, to 
retain the essential principles of the existing system, 
admitting only some formal changes to satisfy the 
party opposed to it. Accordingly it does not 
appear that the law, which was finally prepared 
under his direction, had it been adopted, would have 
made any material alteration in the result of the 
system. The only important amendment intro- 
duced was the provision that two fifths of the 
deputies, instead of being chosen in the existing 
forms, should be named by a body of electors 
appointed for this purpose ; but as these electors were 
to be appointed by the voters as they stood before, 
and as the other three fifths of the deputies were to 
be chosen directly by the same voters, it is difficult 
to see how any great change could have been 
produced in the political character of the returns. 

But this plan was never brought to the test of 
experiment. After the public mind had been kept 
in anxious suspense upon the subject for two or 
three months, the presentation of it was at last 
fixed for the 13th of February, 1820, and by a 
singular coincidence, the very night preceding, 
occurred the assassination of the Duke of Berry. 
This event was followed by the retirement of the 
Count de Cases ; and by the complete ascendency 



60 

of the emigrant party in the cabinet. When the 
new ministry, after subjecting the press to censor- 
ship and suspending the securities of personal lib- 
erty, took up the subject of the elections, they 
withdrew the new proposition of their predecessor 
and substituted another, which, in substance, re- 
duced the number of voters from 100,000 to 
about 20,000. These electors were to choose 
the deputies from candidates presented to them 
by the voters as they stood before : — and in 
each department, the several subdivisions, called 
arrondissements, were to present a number of 
candidates equal to the number of deputies to 
which the department was entitled, and from these 
the electors, composing what were called the supe- 
rior colleges, appointed the deputies ; so that if the 
superior college could gain the votes of any one 
arrondissements they secured the deputies for the 
whole department. The law might have been 
defeated bv a combination among the arrondisse- 
mens to nominate the same persons, in which case 
the superior college could only have confirmed the 
choice. This natural arrangement is adopted ha- 
bitually by the towns composing electoral districts 
in our own country, and would doubtless have 
been resorted to in France to the entire defeat of 
the objects of the law, had it not been foreseen and 



61 

prevented by a provision, that if the same person 
were presented by two arrondissemens, he should be 
regarded as the candidate of that in which he had 
the greatest number of votes ; and the person stand- 
ing next him, on the hst presented by the other, 
taken for the candidate there. It would follow 
from this principle that however unanimous might 
be the opinion of a department in favour of certain 
candidates, their election might be defeated by the 
superior college, if a single scattering vote could 
be gained for any body else. It is quite evident, 
therefore, that this system gave the effective right 
of suffrage exclusively to the superior colleges — 
that is, to the fifteen or twenty thousand richest 
individuals in France. In all probability the twenty 
thousand richest proprietors are as little inclined to 
favour the policy of the emigrants as the richest 
hundred thousand. But the ministry calculated, 
and it would seem from the result with justice, 
that when the number of voters was reduced so 
low, they should be able, by patronage and influ- 
ence, to control a majority. 

Such was the scheme, which was proposed to 
the deputies at the session of 1820, and which 
occupied the whole attention of the house — I might 
almost say of France and indeed of Europe — for 
nearly three months in succession. l,t was a curi- 



62 

ous spectacle to see the same ministers, three of 
them still retaining their places, who had repulsed 
with such vigour, precisely a year before, any 
alteration in the existing system as inexpedient and 
even unconstitutional, now coming forward, with- 
out any material change of circumstances, to unsay 
their own language and refute their own arguments. 
Mr de Serre, the keeper of the seals, the ablest 
debater among the ministers, and the one who, the 
year before, had defended the then existing law 
with the greatest warmth, was now the most 
determined advocate of the new one. The oppo- 
sition had only to recur to the newspapers of the 
preceding year, and they found themselves supplied 
in the speeches of the ministers, vv'ith every descrip- 
tion of argument they wanted. Accordingly, not 
a day passed during the whole debate, in which 
they were not placed repeatedly in contradiction 
with themselves. The question was at last taken 
upon the first article involving the principle of the 
law, and carried by a majority of five only, while 
at the same time the streets of Paris were occupied 
every night by tumultuous mobs, which it required 
the whole military force of the garrison to keep in 
check. In this state of things a slight accident 
might have produced the most important conse- 
quences ; and the ministers recoiled from the 



63 

danger of continuing the agitation of this question 
two or three weeks longer, the shortest time in 
which the debate could have been brought to a 
close. A compromise was agreed to, which met 
the views of a large majority of the house, and w^as 
carried almost without discussion. The choice of 
a number of deputies, equal to the whole number 
previously existing, was left to the electors as they 
stood ; and an additional number, equal to two 
fifths of the whole, is appointed by a superior 
college, composed of the richest fourth part of the 
chartered electors. This law was tried, for the 
first time, at the elections last autumn ; and the su- 
perior colleges voted, in general, conformably to 
the views of the ministry. Having thus gained an 
accession of adherents equal to two fifths of the 
whole number of deputies ; and possessing before 
a strong party in the house, they have been able, 
during the present session, to carry most of their 
measures by large majorities, though harassed by 
continual attacks from the more violent members 
of both parties. 

Such is the present form of the political institu- 
tions of the French nation in this very interesting 
particular ; and the government appear to have 
succeeded, better perhaps than could reasonably 
have been expected, in solving the problem of a 



64 

popular representation, in which the' people is not 
represented. The result of this experiment may 
serve to shew, that, although, generally speaking, 
forms of elections are comparatively indifferent, 
since property will have its natural and necessary 
influence under all, yet that the right of suffrage 
should be at least sufficiently extended to place a 
majority of the voters beyond the immediate influ- 
ence of the ministry. The government for the 
purposes of influence is itself a great proprietor, 
infinitely the greatest in the nation, and the same 
general causes that give the proprietors political 
weight, also give it to the government, in proportion 
to the whole amount of the public revenue, which 
annually passes through its hands. Where the ad- 
ministration continually emanates from the people 
and returns to it, as with us, there is no separation 
of interest between it and the people, and of course 
no necessity to provide a check against its influence ; 
although, if such a check were necessary it is fully 
supplied in our institutions by the general diffusion 
of the right of suffrage, and the economical charac- 
ter of all our political establishments. But in Europe, 
where the formal administration often have, or think 
they have, a strong interest to oppose the will of the 
people at large, if the pecuniary influence at the 
disposition of government is sufficient to corrupt or 



66 

neutralize the whole body of voters, it is evident 
that the forms of representation are a mere farce. 
This is nearly the state of things in France, and to 
a great degree in England, although the very irreg- 
ularity of the forms established in the latter coun- 
try, which appears at first view unfavourable to 
liberty, seems in many cases to defeat the influence 
of the government. 

In both these countries, however, as in all others, 
the forms under which the institutions of represent- 
ative government presents itself are immaterial, in 
comparison with the essential circumstances of a 
general diffusion of property, and with it of substan- 
tial power. It is this which secures to the people 
the enjoyment of much practical liberty, notwith- 
standing the irregular forms and vast pecuniary in- 
fluence of the British government, and this will 
maintain the French nation in possession of the 
substantial blessing, against the mistaken policy of 
the cabinet, and the delusive protection of a packed 
house of deputies. 

2. If the forms of government existing in France 
are a much less agreeable subject of contemplation, 
than the state of property, the policy of the cabinet, 
as I have hinted already, is also far from corres- 
ponding with the wishes of the best friends of the 
nation, and of the reigning family, ^nd this is the 
9 



66 

more unfortunate, as it would seem that the true 
course was indicated so clearly, that it could hardly 
have been mistaken. The king of France had be- 
fore him, in the history of England, the example of 
the two new dynasties, which had adopted precisely 
opposite systems of policy. The Stuarts, upon their 
return, attempted to govern in opposition to the 
opinions and interests of the people. The house of 
Brunswick placed itself honestly and frankly at the 
head of the national feeling. The complete success 
of one system and the complete failure of the other 
are facts sufficiently notorious. Here then was a 
volume of instruction, where the doctrine hardly 
admitted of doubt or disputation. Overlooking these 
instances, and attempting to govern in the interests 
of the emigrants, the king, more unhappy even than 
the Stuarts, found himself compelled, in less than a 
year, to quit his country, and what was still worse, 
to enter it again in the rear of a foreign army. By 
his conduct while Bonaparte was marching towards 
the capital, and even by his declarations published 
at Ghent, during the interregnum, the king admitted 
the errors into which he had fallen ; and left him- 
self of course no excuse for a repetition of them. 
Yet since his second return, the course of policy 
adopted has been, with some occasional vacillation, 
substantially the same as it was after the first ; and 



6^ 

at the present moment is more decidedly anti-national 
than ever. 

What, it may be inquired, are in point of fact the 
measures that make up this anti-national system ? 
In this respect what has not been done is perhaps of 
more importance than what has been done. At no 
period since the restoration has the government 
possessed the confidence of the people. To acquire 
this was the first and most important object. Pos- 
sessing the public confidence, they might have ar- 
ranged the detail of their measures without fear of 
an opposition ; but, having failed in this, they can 
obtain no credit for their proceedings, supposing 
them even the wisest and most salutary that could 
be imagined. 

It is urged, however, by the ministry and the 
royalists, that the party expressing dissatisfaction 
with the policy of the government is not to be con- 
sidered as expressing the national sentiment. It is 
represented as consisting of a few ambitious, un- 
principled demagogues, and a iew honest, but 
visionary theorists, the dupes and instruments of the 
former. These two descriptions of persons, by their 
loquacity in public assemblies, and the zeal with 
which they promulgate their opinions through the 
medium of the press, by activity of speech and fer- 
tility of pen, give themselves the appearance of 



68 

representing a large and injposing section of the 
public ; as two or three individuals in a fort, by 
frequently shifting their position and keeping up a 
rapid fire from several points, have been known to 
give the enemy the idea that the place was defended 
by a strong garrison. But imprison a few of these 
disturbers of the public peace, and deprive the rest 
of their means of operation, by abolishing delibera- 
tive assemblies and silencing the press, and, accord- 
ing to their hypothesis, you may put an end at once 
to party divisions, and establish a general uniformity 
of opinion through the w^hole society. Without 
entering here into an examination of the personal 
composition of the liberal party, upon w^hich I shall 
touch slightly hereafter, it may be observed in gen- 
eral, that it is utterly repugnant to the theory here 
stated, its leaders being among the most intelligent, 
wealthy, and respectable persons in the nation. 
Indeed, if there is any correctness in the view I have 
taken in the preceding chapter of the general com- 
position of parties in Europe, the very imagination 
of such a system by the royalists is a sufficient proof 
how insensible they are to the present state of so- 
ciety, and consequently how incapable of directing 
the government. But, independently of any general 
reasoning or preconceived opinion, the experiment 
of the election law of 1817, which I have already 



I 69 

described, must have satisfied every person, not 
completely blinded by prejudice, that the great mass 
of property throughout the country was in the libe- 
ral interest ; carrying with it of necessity the mass 
of population and intellect. 

It is urged again, however, that this popular party 
is unreasonable, that it is essentially hostile to the 
Bombon dynasty, and to a monarchical form of 
government, that it aims at the establishment of a 
republic or a military despotism, and that of course 
it can never be trusted with power. This argument 
either proceeds upon the same misconception in 
regard to the composition and strength of the liberal 
party with the last, or it proves rather more than 
perhaps would suit the purpose of those who employ 
it. If it be true, that the mass of population and 
property is resolutely hostile to the present form of 
government and the dynasty of the Bourbons, the 
proper conclusion perhaps would be, that it is their 
policy to abdicate at once. For a single family to 
make head against such a nation as France, I take 
to be wholly impracticable, and the attempt could 
only produce greater evils than abdication itself. 
But before adopting a system which leads necessarily 
to such a conclusion as this, it might perhaps be 
expedient to make trial of the liberal party^ to trust 
them for once, and learn by experiment their real 



70 

iiileiitions. This has not yet been done. It seems, 
on the contrary to have been admitted as an axiom, 
that if this party obtained an ascendancy in the 
ministry or a majority m Parliament, inevitable ruin 
would follow at once. For myself, I see no reason 
to suppose that there is any such hostility in the 
liberal party to the present government or the Bour- 
bon dynasty. There may be individuals among 
them attached to republican forms ; although the 
experiment they made of that system had but little 
tendency to create such an attachment. Consider- 
ed as a great party, supported by the population and 
property of the country, their object is not forms or 
families, but essential liberty. This they have al- 
ready obtained in substance, by the revolution in 
the state of property, and in form, by the charter. 
Their only important object at present is to secure 
what they have acquired, and to maintain the exist- 
ing state of things. Nothing of course can be more 
contrary to the idea of revolution ; and if the Bour- 
bons ever exhibit a sincere intention to assist in 
these objects, they must of necessity obtain the 
inidisguised attachment and support of the Hberal 
party, because the interest of that party would then 
be identilied with theirs ; and there is little danger 
oif mistake in predicting that their attachments and 
opinions will be determined by their interest. 



71 

I observe with some surprise in the same article 
of the Edinburgh Review, to which I have aheady 
alhided, a disposition to countenance the imputation 
upon the liberal party of an ungovernable and sedi- 
tious spirit. The reviewers seem to forget that this 
party is essentially the same with the whig party in 
England, which they habitually support. Are they 
prepared to admit the correctness of the similar 
charges, made against their friends by the British 
ultras, with just as much foundation ? As a proof 
that the liberal party are anxious for a republic or a 
despotism, rather than substantial civil liberty, they 
quote a passage from a speech of one of the most 
distinguished orators of that party. General Fo}^, in 
which he remarks that the French, if they cannot 
have liberty and glory, prefer a brilliant military 
despotism to a feudal aristocracy. Is it fair to con- 
sider this as a preference of despotism over liberty ? 
I confess that if I were compelled to decide between 
these two evils, I should be disposed to make the 
same choice. Of all the kinds of government that 
have ever been practised, the feudal aristocracy of the 
middle ages seems to have been the most intolerable, 
uniting, as it did, all the horrors of complete anarchy 
with all the oppression of the most ruthless despo- 
tism. Then, they say, that the French can form no 
idea of any other aristocracv but a feudal one. How 



72 

does this appear ? It seems on the contrary to 
be the reviewers, who can form no idea of any 
other. It is they who assert that the feudal law of 
promogeniture is absolutely necessary to form an 
aristocracy. The French deny this necessity both 
in theory and practice ; and are quite confident that 
without feudal regulations, they shall have all the 
aristocracy they want or that is useful. It is a 
painful consideration, that while the enemies of 
liberty throughout Europe act together with the 
cordiality of a band of brothers, her friends in dif- 
ferent nations are hardly disposed to acknowledge 
each other as allies. This is but a poor prognostic 
of the ultimate success of the cause. And in regard 
to the supposed seditious spirit of the liberal party, 
is it so very extraordinary, that they should not feel 
confidence in a government, which feels no confi- 
dence in them ? This circumstance alone, independ- 
ently of particular measures, is enough to justify all 
the discontent they have ever expressed or felt Let 
an English politician, who is disposed to deny this, 
reflect upon the state of public opinion in Great 
Britain at the close of the reign of Queen Anne, 
and consider the curses that are still heaped upon 
the Tory administration, which she was ill-advised 
enough to employ ; and which was suspected with 
justice of being adverse to the existing establish- 
ments of the country, and to the cause of liberty. 



4-'i. 



73 

This subject is much better treated by Mr Guizot, 
one of the ablest and most judicious of the liberal 
politicians, in his late work on the present situation 
of the French government. He establishes satis- 
factorily, that whatever disorderly elements may by 
accident be connected with the liberal party, and he 
does not deny that there are some such, they derive 
the little influence they possess wholly from the errors 
of the ministry, and that the party itself has no other 
object but the maintenance of the existing state of 
things, including the dynasty, whenever the dynasty, 
which it has not yet done, shall fairly identify its 
interests with that of the new establishments. 

In reality, though the policy of the French gov- 
ernment, like other established errors, is supported 
on general principles, it was not probably adopted 
as a matter of calculation, but was an almost neces- 
sary result of the difficulties attending the king's 
personal position at his return. He appears to have 
perceived the policy that suited his circumstances, 
and to have been himself sufficiently inclined to 
adopt it. It is probable even, that it tallied with his 
own inclinations, as he was considered at the com- 
mencement of the revolution an adherent of the 
popular party. The charter which he proclaimed 
immediately after his return was sufficiently liberal 
in its provisions to secure all interests and satisfy 
10 



74 

all opinions ; and had he found it possible to con- 
duct the administration with firmness and uniformi- 
ty on the same principles, he would probably have 
obtained the confidence of the nation. Unfortunate- 
ly there were two important points, in which his 
position differed from that of the house of Bruns- 
wick, and which made it extremely difficult, if not 
impossible, for him to strike at once with decision 
into the proper course. One of these was his per- 
sonal situation in regard to the emigrants, and the 
other the existing relations between France and the 
great continental alliance. 

The house of Brunswick were personally as well 
as politically connected with the national interest, 
and had no conflict to sustain between the dictates 
of dutj and the demands of feeling and friendship. 
The Bourbons returned with a suite of adherents, 
whose interest w'as adverse to that of all the new 
establishments, but who had sacrificed every thing 
in behalf of the royal family. Whether their policy in 
emigrating was right or wrong, in point of fact they 
had abandoned the highest rank, and most brilliant 
fortune, to accompany their fallen sovereign in exile 
and misery. They had taken up the cross to follow 
the Bourbons ; and if the French nation had a right 
to blame their conduct, they might fairly expect 
indulgence and favour from their royal master. 



75 

How was it possible for the king to drive from his 
person, and condemn to obscurity and want, his 
devoted followers and friends, who had ministered 
to him with their substance and service in the 
worst of times, when they could not reasonably 
expect any reward for their loyalty on this side the 
grav^e ? Was the day of restoration and triumph to 
be only the consummation of ruin to the most af- 
fectionate partisans of the restored family ? After 
buffeting the adverse torrent in their sovereign's 
company for nearly thirty years, were they now to 
be cast off without recompense or thanks, just as 
the tide had turned and the port was opening before 
them ? This was morally impossible. Their fidelity 
must in some way or other be rewarded. There was 
scripture authority in their favour. — Thou hast been 
faithful over a few things ; I will make thee ruler 
over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy 
Lord. 

Inexorable duty would have turned a deaf ear to 
these suggestions of friendship, natural and amiable 
as it might appear to comply with them, and worth- 
less as the crown itself might be justly held, if pur- 
chased by so cruel a sacrifice. It was absolutely 
necessary, in order to ensure the confidence of the 
nation, that the government should be entrusted to 
persons of high character and ackno^vledged liberal 



76 

opinions. Had Louis XVIII, instead of an intelli- 
gent and amiable man, been a Frederic or even a 
Henri Quatre, he would have had the courage to 
submit to this hard necessity. Henry IV made no 
scruple of sacrificing his religion, and with it his 
personal friends, to the interest of the state, at a time 
when re ligious opinions were as passionately and as 
p^rseveringly defended, as political opinions are now ; 
or rather when politics and the great interests con- 
nected with it passed under the name of religion. 
Here was an example worth imitation. Unfortu- 
nately a different policy prevailed, and the preten- 
sions of the personal friends of the family were re- 
cognized to a great extent. The high offices of 
state, the commissions in the army, the embassies, 
the prefectures, the peerages, and other civil and 
military posts of importance were generally given 
to emigrants, decidedly attached to the old regime. 
Thus the government, which is little else than a 
vast proprietary concern, was entrusted to a class 
of persons, who had not only nothing at stake in 
the copartnership, but whose personal feelings and 
interests pointed directly to the destruction of it, and 
the conversion of the property to their own use. 
This was to appoint a guardian to the flock, who 
had the acknowledged disposition, if he wanted the 
strength of the wolf. The adoption of this system 



/ 



77 

was no doubt owing in part to the influence of the 
princes, who made but httle secret of their hostility 
to the new order of things. It is well known, that the 
count d'Artois, soon after the first restoration, held a 
very encouraging language towards the emigrants : 
' Jouissez du present ; je vous reponds de Pavenir^ — 
' Enjoy the present ; I warrant you the future.' 
Thus the French government exhibited precisely 
the same spectacle, as was seen in England during 
the reign of Charles II, an heir apparent avowedly 
hostile to the national interest, surrounded by adher- 
ents of the same description, a vacillating, intriguing 
cabinet, and a sovereign, who, though intelligent 
and amiable, had never succeeded in obtaining the 
public confidence. 

The other circumstance, to which I have alluded 
as embarrassing the position of the king, was still 
more important. This was the relation in which 
he stood to the continental alliance. Here again 
his positioi) differed wholly from that of the house 
of Brunsw ick, which was placed upon the throne by 
the nation itself ; while the king of France, on the 
contrary, had been restored by hostile armies, in 
direct opposition to the military part of his future 
subjects, and without the active cooperation of any 
of them, excepting the emigrants. It was therefore 
to foreign powers, that he was immediately indebted 



78 

for his throne; anil it was impossible in sucli a 
situation not to listen with some degree of compla- 
cency and deference to their suggestions in regard 
to his political conduct. Unfortunately the advice 
he was likely to receive from these powers was in 
direct opposition to the course prescribed by the in- 
ternal situation of Fxance, and its position in the 
European commonwealth. To place itself at the 
head of the constitutional interest in France, to 
place France at the head of the constitutional inter- 
est in Europe, these were the leading principles of 
the true domestic and foreign policy of the new 
government. But the great continental allies con- 
stituted themselves the anti-constitutional European 
interest ; and were precisely the adverse party that 
Fraiice was called to contend with. It was there- 
fore their policy and their effort to deter the gov- 
ernment from assuming its true position, or from 
giving it to France, as an European power. During 
the ' era of good feelings,' that accompanied the fall 
of Bonaparte, when the nations were acting harmo- 
niously and in unison with this government, and the 
present divisions had not yet grown up, the sove- 
reigns having observed upon the spot the strength 
of the constitutional interest, and not anticipating 
all the consequences of the measure, recommended 
and sanctioned the granting of the charter, a step of 



79 

which they have since sufficiently repented. But ia 
accepting the system, they seem to have refused all 
its natural and necessary consequences ; and to 
have supposed that a liberal constitution could exist 
in practice, without the slightest manifestation by 
deed or word of its essential jDrinciples. This ex- 
pectation was of course disappointed ; and when the 
constitutional spirit manifested itself so publicly and 
powerfully throughout Europe, and the great pow- 
ers were seized with the terror of revolution at 
home, they began to look with disquiet upon what 
was passing in France. At every public proclamation 
of liberal ideas they felt their thrones tottering under 
them. Every newspaper printed at Paris seemed 
to them to carry sedition and disorder through the 
vast extent of Europe. When the heat and tumult 
inseparable, to a greater or less extent, from the free 
discussion of public measures began to exhibit itself, 
they mistook these ordinary appearances of repre- 
sentative government for the symptoms of a new 
revolution ; and began to urge it upon the king to 
resort to violent measures, and to attempt to govern 
the nation in opposition to its opinions and feelings, 
and to the spirit of the institutions, which he had 
himself sanctioned. In making these remarks on 
the policy of the allies, it is not my intention to in- 
clude Great Britain among the number. The alii- 



80 

aiice of England with the great continental powers 
virtually ceased at the close of the war, with the 
cessation of the common interest that created it. In 
the new political system, resulting from this change 
of circumstances. Great Britain takes her place as a 
leading constitutional power, her interest is identifi- 
ed with that of France as a constitutional power, 
and with that of the constitutional party in France, 
and is opposed to that of the northern allies. Ac- 
cordingly we have seen her openly disavow the 
connexion at the first collision of these great inter- 
ests. Although the British ministers do not yet seem 
to have entered fully into the spirit of their new 
part, their advice to the French government has 
doubtless been in the main consistent with its true 
interest. 

But the support of the great continental pow- 
ers was of itself sufficient to give the emigrant 
party an importance at court and in the cabinet, to 
which they had no pretensions by their essential 
strength, and which they might not have obtained 
even from the personal attachment of the royal 
family. To the influence of these two circumstan- 
ces taken together must be attributed the indecision 
and impolicy, which have marked the proceedings 
of the government from the time of the first resto- 
i-ation up to the present day. 



81 

The return of Bonaparte from Elba and the 
second invasion of France by the allies, which 
succeeded, without making any essential change in 
the situation of the country, rather aggravated the 
embarrassments of the king's position, by increasing 
his obligations to the allies and to his personal 
adherents, whose fidelity had been tried once more 
by the touchstone of adversity. It is uncertain how 
far the dissatisfaction of the people, at the prefer- 
ence given to the emigrants, may have contributed 
to favour the rash enterprise of Napoleon. On the 
one hand, it would scarcely seem that time enough 
had elapsed since the restoration to give an oppor- 
tunity for the measures adopted, to produce a deep 
and general sentiment of dislike. This adventure 
occurred so near the close of the great action, that 
it naturally presents itself as a sort of epilogue. At 
the same time it is notorious that a sullen murmur 
of dissatisfaction had been heard through the nation, 
betraying a conviction that the Bourbons were not 
prepared to identify their cause with that of France. 
The government itself, in the surprise and terror 
created by this unexpected and unexampled attack, 
lost its self-possession, and exhibited an evident 
consciousness of having acted before upon false 
principles. When the invader was half way on his 
journey to Paris, the royal family bethought them- 
11 



82 

selves of satisfying the nation that they were 
attached to the charter, by holding a solennn 
session of the parliament and swearing to observe 
it ; as if these ' vows made in pain,' which ' ease 
could so readily recant,' would restore in a moment 
the confidence, that had been forfeited by a mistaken 
course of policy. The government, however, went 
even farther than this ; and in their proclamations 
from Ghent, candidly admitted that they had fallen 
into errors ; a confession, which, coming from this 
quarter, may be fairly regarded as equivalent to a 
disavowal of the system which had been pursued. 
It was probably with unwillingness and under a 
sort of moral compulsion, that the king had con- 
sented to the adoption of this system at first ; and 
having now discovered by fatal experience the 
impracticability of it, he seems to have determined 
that at his second restoration he would attach 
himself to the new order of things and gain the 
confidence of the nation. We find, accordingly, 
that although he had been surrounded at Ghent by 
the most decided adherents of the emigrant party, 
Mr de Chateaubriand acting as principle minister, 
the administration was organized anew immediately 
upon his arrival at Paris in a manner probably 
intended to satisfy the people. It seerds at least 
difficult to account in any other way for the intro- 



83 

duction into the cabinet of such characters as Tal- 
leyrand, Fouche, Baron Louis, and Marshal Gou- 
vion St Cjr, the most prominent members of this 
ministry. At the same time the complexion of the 
house of deputies, nominated under its influence, 
immediately after the king's return, vvas decidedly 
of a royalist character. This circumstance might 
be owing in part to the prostrate condition of the 
liberal party at this moment. They had unfortu- 
nately identified their interest in a great measure 
with that of Napoleon during the hundred days. 
Their leading characters composed his parliament 
and filled his armies ; and the disastrous issue of 
his enterprise made it unsafe for them at present to 
appear in public. The national party, notwith- 
standing its essential strength, had, for the moment, 
neither organization nor leaders ; and the complex- 
ion of the house was perhaps as much a natural 
result of the existing state of circumstances, as of 
the wishes of the cabinet. 

However this may be, and in whatever way 
the influence of the ministry may have been em- 
ployed upon the elections, it appears that they took 
the true national position in regard to foreign pow- 
ers. They resisted the hard conditions imposed 
upon France by the new treaty, and firmly refused 
to sign it. As the allies persisted in their demands 



84 

the ministrv was changed, and Fouche, whose 
policy it had been of late to maintain his credit 
with all parties at once, which could only be done 
by betraying them all, was disgraced. Immediately 
after the change of ministry, the negotiations were 
brought to a close and the treaty concluded. 

The new ministry was by no means of a decid- 
edly ultra cast, but rather of a moderate and neu- 
tral character. Mr de Cases, the successor of 
Fouche, had not yet acquired his importance. Mr 
de Barbe Marbois, minister of justice, was a known 
adherent of liberal principles. The Ministers of 
Finance and Marine, Dubouchage and Corvetto, 
were not obnoxious to any party. The Ministers 
of the Interior and of War, the Duke of Feltre and 
Mr de Vaublanc, were regarded as decided ultras. 
At the head of the administration was placed the 
Duke of Richelieu, Avhose nomination indicates the 
real princi])le upon which it was organized, the 
necessity of conforming to the views and dispo- 
sitions of the allies. The Duke was generally 
respected as a person of amiable and generous 
dispositions, but was not recommended by any 
acknowledged superiority of talent ; and as an 
emigrant could hardly bo considered as agreeable 
to the nation. His chief or only recommendation 
was the personal friendship of the Emperor Alex- 



85 

ander, by whom he had been employed during his 
emigration, as governor of the Crimea ; and con- 
sidering the relation which must necessarily exist 
under the new political system between France and 
Russia, it was not perhaps the strongest that could 
be imagined. The Duke had the advantage, it is 
true, of bearing one of those ' historical names,' to 
the possession of which Madame de Stael attaches 
so much importance ; but unfortunately, as I am 
afraid would generally happen in such cases, his 
name was more likely to remind the nation of the 
sort of minister that was wanted, than his character 
was to satisfy their expectations. Had the spirit of 
the great Cardinal fallen within his title to his 
icollateral descendant, the consequences of this 
appointment might have been very different from 
what they were. He might even have copied with 
advantage the laconic circular despatch, by which 
the Cardinal announced his nomination to the 
French ambassadors abroad. " The king has 
changed his ministers and the ministry has changed 
its policy." If we recur to the Cardinal's admin- 
istration, we find him struggling with obstacles 
somewhat similar in character, though infinitely 
superior in magnitude, to those which the Duke 
must have encountered, had he embraced a decid- 
edly liberal policy, but victorious by the force of aa 



86 

energetic will, and founding the stability and great- 
ness of the French monarchy in the face of them all. 
His measures were always decisive, sometimes 
even brutal ; but upon the whole advantageous to 
the country. He quelled the religious troubles by 
force of arms ; and imprisoned and exiled such of 
the royal family as dared to thwart his projects. 
Something less than this would have disconcerted 
the emigrants, and silenced the French princes at 
the present day ; but such proceedings were entirely 
opposite to the Duke's character. He had nothing 
in common with the Cardinal, but his title ; and his 
principal reputed virtue, a good heart, was one 
which the Cardinal wanted, and which, had he 
possessed it, might have rather checked than assisted 
the accomplishment of his objects. 

From this epoch may be dated the adoption of 
the pretended neutral system, which has not been 
wholly abandoned at any subsequent period, although 
pursued at times with a strong inclination to one 
or the other party, to the liberal interest under the 
presidency of Mr de Cases ; and to the opposite 
one at present. This system would admit of a 
better defence, if it were what it professes to be, a 
neutrality between two great hostile parties. If 
a nation were really divided into two such sections, 
each supported by an extensive and powerful por- 



87 

lion of the population and property, the government 
would be placed in a delicate position. It would 
be difficult, in these circumstances, to ensure the 
public tranquillity by any scheme of policy ; and 
an attempt to conciliate and amalgamate the two 
parties might, in certain cases, be advisable. In 
general, perhaps, it would be a better plan to 
espouse the right side with frankness and vigour, 
and weaken the other as much as possible. But it 
does not appear that the French government were 
in reality obliged to contend with this difficulty ; 
and it is the great fault of their system that it is not 
as it professes to be, neutrality between two 
domestic parties, but neutrality between the nation 
and a few individuals, if we regard the internal 
strength of the emigrants, or if we look at their 
support from abroad, neutrality between France 
and the Northern Alliance. The position taken 
by the ministry is not so much the central point 
between the two sides of the chamber of deputies, 
as the half way house on the road from Paris to 
Vienna or St Petersburg. By such a system they 
lose the support of the great national intesests 
which are all on the liberal side, and have nothing 
to replace them with and to found their strength 
upon, but the terror of invasion. Hence, as far as 
they deviate from a true national policy, in order 



88 

to observe what they call neutrality, they make 
themselves, in fact, the lieutenants of foreign and 
essentially hostile powers, instead of the represen- 
tatives of their country ; the most odious position 
in which the government can be placed, and 
deservedly so, as the policy upon which it is 
predicated is marked with all the essential char- 
acters of treason ; and even ignorance and error, 
when they lead us to espouse the interest of foreign 
countries, against that of our own, are rarely ad- 
mitted as sufficient apologies. 

In the year 1816, following the first adoption of 
the system in question, there arose in the cabinet a 
strong apparent inclination towards a better and 
more liberal policy, resulting in a great measure 
from the increasing influence of the Minister of 
Police, Count de Cases. The history and char- 
acter of this statesman have since engaged the 
public attention to so great an extent, that it would 
be needless to enter here into much detail upon the 
subject. It is well known that without the advan- 
tages of birth and fortune, he succeeded by the 
amenity of his social habits, united, no doubt, with 
intellectual powers of a very respectable, though 
not the highest order, and, I may add, by the sound- 
ness of his political views, in attracting the king's 
attention and engaging in a very remarkable de- 



89 

gree his personal power. Under the reign of Bona- 
parte he had occupied an office of no great 
importance in the judiciary, and was afterwards 
private secretary to the Imperial family. During 
the interregnum he remained in France, but dis- 
tinguished himself by his adherence to the royal 
cause ; and at the king's return was appointed 
prefect of police, the second office in that depart- 
ment then under the direction of Fouche. Upon 
the removal of this minister in September 1818, 
Mr de Cases succeeded him, and from this time he 
appears to have exercised a constantly increasing 
influence in the cabinet, until he became, at the 
close of the year 1818, in name as well as in reality, 
the president of the council of ministers. With the 
progress of his personal influence may be traced a 
regularly increasing disposition in the government: 
to adopt the true national policy. He was himself 
of popular extraction, and had no sympathies with 
the old aristocracy or the emigrants. The policy 
of the emigration probably appeared to him, as it 
does to every body but those who took part in it, 
extremely questionable. He was young, and his 
attachment to the cause of liberty had not been 
cooled by a contact with the horrors of the revo- 
lution. He was, in many respects, a person likely 
to be agreeable to the nation as minister: and 
12 



90 

witli more firmness of purpose, a little larger 
intlision of the ' unconquerable will,' he might 
probably have decided for a length of time the 
politics of France ; and if the views I have taken 
of the subject be correct, would have given them a 
much more fortunate turn than they have taken. 
Perhaps the stern resolution he wanted might not 
have been compatible with the kind heart and 
insinuating manners, which procured him his per- 
sonal influence with the king ; and had he pos- 
sessed the qualities necessary for doing the greatest 
possible good, he might not have had the official 
opportunity. However this may be, his influence 
gave the policy of the government for a time a 
much more liberal aspect. The decree of Sept. 5, 
1816, which dissolved the house of deputies, is 
universally attributed to him. Other corresponding 
steps of smaller importance, as the removal of Mr 
de Chateaubriand from the council of state, were 
taken about the same time ; and at the elections 
immediately ensuing, the influence of the ministry, 
as I have already observed, was exerted uniformly 
against the ultra candidates, and generally in favour 
of the liberal ones. 

Meanwhile, the emigrants perceiving their influ- 
ence in the cabinet to be on the decline, and 
reminded by the result of the elections how little 



91 

hold they had upon the nation, began to turn for 
support, to the quarter where they placed their 
habitual and indeed their only dependence, and 
entered into correspondence with the allied pow- 
ers. One of their communications, in which they 
urged the interference of the allies with the king 
to procure a change of ministry, was intercepted by 
the government, and published under the title of 
the Secret Note. Yet, incredible as it meiy seem, 
such was the personal weight of the emigrants at 
court, that the ministry, after detecting and publish- 
ing this document, actually suppressed it them- 
selves, doubtless at the instance of the princes, as it 
has never been pretended that it was not genuine. 
These private communications of the emigrants and 
the gloomy forebodings, which they were contin- 
ually pouring out through the public press, had 
their effect upon the allies, and the more, no doubt, 
as the interest of the allies themselves was favoured 
by the policy, which the emigrants recommended. 
In the autumn of 1818 the sovereigns assembled at 
Aix-la-Chapelle, to deliberate upon the evacuation 
of France. This measure was agreed to, as well 
suited to conciliate the nation ; but it is altogether 
probable, that at the same time they urged very 
strongly upon the French government the adoption 
of a course of policy more agreeable to their views 
and those of the emigrants, This is probable, not 



92 

only from considerations of a more general charac- 
ter, but from the intestine struggle which occurred 
in the cabinet soon after the -Duke of Richelieu's 
return from Aix-la-Chapelle, and which ended in 
his resignation and in the appointment of Mr de 
Cases to the Presidency of the Council. In this, 
as in other political intrigues, the whole affair is 
not before the public ; but from the circumstances, 
which arc known, it may be concluded that Mr 
de Richelieu urged the recomposition of the minis- 
try, upon a system more agreeable to foreign 
powers, offering his resignation in the event of a 
refusal ; and that the king, personally indisposed 
to such a proceeding and satisfied of its political 
inexpediency, accepted his resignation, and organ- 
ized the ministry anew upon a still more liberal 
footing than before. Thus the efforts of the emi- 
grants and the allies produced, for the present at 
least, an effect directly opposite to their expectations 
and wishes ; and Count de Cases was elevated to 
the summit of official greatness by the very blow 
which was intended to level him with the dust. 
His nomination to the presidency marked the 
culminating point of the influence of the liberal 
party in the cabinet. After remaining a short time 
at about the same height, it has been steadily and 
gradually retrograding up to the present day. 



93 

The acrimony with which party disputes were 
conducted in France created uneasiness both at 
home and abroad ; an^ the popular discontents in 
England and Germany greatly increased the sensi- 
bility of the governments upon this subject. Imme- 
diately after the elevation of Mr do Cases to the 
presidency, occurred the attack upon the election 
law in the house of peers, to which I have already 
alluded, and which was then defeated by the min- 
istry. At each succeeding election the operation 
of the existing law in favour of the liberal party 
became more and more evident ; and it was soon 
very clear, that if it continued to subsist until the 
house of deputies had been wholly renewed under 
its operation, the emigrants must at once lose all 
their influence in parliament and all hope of ever 
recovering it by the introduction of another system. 
The present moment was the only one in which 
they could labour with any expectation of ultimate 
success ; and accordingly every engine, foreign and 
domestic, was put in motion to effect their purpose. 
Two circumstances, in a great measure accidental, 
probably did more for them, than all their own 
machinations — I mean the election of the Abbe 
Gregoire as deputy, and the assassination of the 
Duke of Berrv. 



94 

The former of these events occurred at the 
elections in the autumn of 1819, and seems to have 
given the first serious check to the influence of the 
liberal party in the cabinet. Under the circum- 
stances, this nomination was doubtless both indec- 
orous and impolitic. It served no purpose whatever, 
and it furnished the emigrants with a plausible 
theme for abuse and scandal. There is, therefore, 
a high degree of probability in the supposition, 
which is also maintained on no less authority than 
that of the prefect of the department where the 
choice was made, that the emigrants themselves, 
finding that Grcgoire had unadvisedly been put in 
nomination, gave him their votes, with a view of 
turning his election to account against the liberal 
party. The prefect, Mr d'Arnonville, who was 
present at the time, and from his official character 
must have had a good opportunity to be acquainted 
with all that passed, published a pamphlet upon 
the subject, in which he asserts this fact, and sub- 
stantiates it by a detailed account of the proceed- 
ings. However this may be, there was something 
truly infernal in the rancour with which this ven- 
erable and really virtuous old man, who has long 
since repented of the errors of his earlier years, and 
atoned for them by a life of exemplary philanthropy 
and piety, was now assailed, to serve the temporary 



95 

purposes of party. They denounced him as a regi- 
cide, akhough he was confessedly not present in 
the convention at the trial of Louis XVI, under 
pretence that he had expressed his approbation of 
the sentence in his letters from the army, where he 
was then acting as commissioner. Had he been a 
regicide, he was still legally eligible ; and after the 
king had publicly required of the nation to bury 
in oblivion all previous political errors, it was 
hardly admissible to question, on this account, the 
validity of the choice. There was even a gross 
absurdity in treating the mere quality of regicide, 
which they persisted with relentless perversity in 
fastening upon this man, as a sufficient motive for 
exclusion from the house of deputies, when the 
king himself had employed, as a cabinet minister, 
the acknowledged regicide, Fouche. To increase 
the singularity of the whole transaction, it appeared, 
upon examining the question, that Gregoire was 
not eligible in the department where he was 
named. On this ground the choice was declared 
to be null ; and as for the same reason he could 
not be re-elected, the affair never came to a regular 
decision. Notwithstanding the scandal created by 
this choice, and the apprehensions excited by some 
others which, though less publicly obnoxious, were 
regarded by the government as at least equally 



96 

alarming, the ministry were inclined at first to 
jjersevere in their system. But further reflexion or 
perhaps the influence of foreign powers produced a 
different determination, and it was concluded in 
the cabinet to propose a change in the election law. 
From this conclusion, however, the three most 
decidedly liberal members, Gen. Dessoles, Baron 
Louis, and marshal Gouvion St Cyr, dissented and 
resigned their places. Count de Cases still held 
his post at the head of the council, thinking, proba- 
bly, that by yielding a little for the present, he 
should ultimately be able to maintain his general 
scheme of policy. The new election law, then 
proposed, would, in fact, as I have shewn, have 
made no material difference in the returns ; and his 
anticipations would, in all probability, have been 
realized, but for the disastrous accident of the 
assassination of the Duke of Berry. 

In other countries, perhaps at other times in 
France, this event would have been regarded as too 
grave and tragical, to take its place in the vulgar 
category of political expedients. The worst foes 
of the ministry would have felt an honourable 
pride in clearing them from any share in so horrible 
a crime, if indeed the very idea of regarding the 
prime minister as an accomplice of a journeyman 
saddler in assassinating one of the royal family. 



97 

had not been too grossly incongruous to occur to 
any one, not under the influence of a political 
fanaticism equivalent to absolute insanity. The 
emigrants, however, thought it possible to connect 
this catastrophe with the existing political system; 
and looking at it in this point of view, they con- 
sidered the event as a Godsend, which, properly 
employed, would give the finishing stroke to the 
credit of the obnoxious favourite. The most 
furious of their partisans, in the house of deputies, 
brought in the next day a charge of high treason 
against Count de Cases, as an accomplice in the 
assassination. It is but justice to add, that this 
disgraceful outrage upon decency was but slightly 
encouraged even by his oAvn party. More effectual 
measures were adopted in other quarters. Circulars 
were despatched through the country, demanding 
of the adherents of the party something in the 
shape of turbulence and agitation, which might 
be construed into an expression of national dislike 
to the minister. At the same time a decisive blow 
was struck at court ; where it is understood that 
the members of the royal family, male and female, 
made a joint onset upon the king's person, adjuring 
him, as he valued their lives and his own, to remove 
Count de Cases ; and adding, that if he did not, 
they should be obliged to consult their own safety. 
13 



98 

by quitting the kingdom. A truly (?!iergetic admin*- 
istratioii would have taken them at their word, and 
given them leave of absence, never to return, for so 
indecent an interference in the public affairs. But 
neither the temper of the times nor that of the min- 
ister admitted of this. Assailed in such an unpre- 
cedented and unprincipled way, he appears to have 
insisted himself upon retiring ; and left the admin- 
istration covered with new titles and honours, and 
with fresh marks of the king's personal favour. 
No sooner had he resigned, than circulars were 
again despatched through the country, counter- 
manding the call for insurrection, which had been 
issued before. By rather a singular accident, the 
two circular despatches here alluded to were dis- 
covered and printed ; and purported by their marks, 
to form a part of a regular correspondence. This 
discovery, however, was made somewhat later. 
Meanwhile, the Duke de Richelieu resumed his post 
at the head of the council ; and the evil spirit of 
the emigration, finding the house of state empty 
swept and garnished, entered in and dwelt there. 
A new direction was given to the ministerial policy, 
which, without satisfying the most exaggerated of 
the party, is still decided enough to alarm and dis- 
tress the mass of the nation and the best friends 
of the royal family. 



99 

The series of measures, with which the new ad- 
ministration began their operations, was sufficiently 
portentous to shew that these alarms were not likely 
to prove altogether groundless. They were no less 
than a suspension of the securities of personal liber- 
ty, a subjection of the press to censorship, and a 
radical reform in the representation of the people. 
These measures, to which I have already adverted, 
have occupied the whole attention of the govern- 
ment, since the change of the ministry. The only 
interesting question connected with the foreign rela- 
tions of the country, the policy of France in refer- 
ence to the revolution in Italy, will be touched upon 
in a separate chapter, in connexion with the general 
subject of the balance of power in Europe. 

If the measures of external and internal policy, 
taken under the direction of the new ministry, have 
be'en well calculated to justify and increase the 
alarm of the nation, the apprehension, generally en- 
tertained of an impending attack upon the security 
of landed property, obtained by the purchase of con- 
fiscated estates, creates a still deeper and more pain- 
ful anxiety. In this question the interest of at least 
two thirds of the proprietors in the kingdom is di- 
rectly involved. The impossibility of restoring their 
lost property to the emigrants was distinctly felt at 
the time of the first restoration ; and the validity of 



100 

the new titles is formally warranted by the charter. 
The emigrants, however, have never been, and 
probably never will be, satisfied with this arrange- 
ment. Without the recovery of their estates, the 
restoration is to them a mockery. To this point 
their views are constantly directed. Their extreme 
eagerness to obtain the management of public atTairs 
is easily accounted for, on the supposition that they 
wish to use their political influence as a means of 
procuring, in some form or other, the restitution of 
their property. While, on the other hand, the re- 
pugnance felt throughout the nation to their preten- 
sions and opinions results from a secret conviction, 
that the stability of the present state of property 
depends upon the final prevalence of a liberal system 
of policy in the cabinet. Thus the real point in 
question between the parties is not so much which 
shall possess the political power, as which shall 
possess the private property of the country. While 
the administration is in liberal hands, the very mag- 
nitude of the pretensions of the emigrants is fitted 
to remove any anxiety about their success ; but it 
serves as a measure for the fears of the parties in- 
terested, when the emigrants themselves have the 
chief direction of the government. 

Upon the first restoration, the confiscated property 
remaining unsold in the hands of the government 



101 

was restored to the original owners. This measure, 
in itself sufficiently just, was, notwithstanding, of a 
nature to create some alarm, as it annulled political 
acts of thirty years' standing, connected with this 
very delicate subject. Not long after, a proposition 
was made in the house of peers, to create a large 
amount of public debt to be assigned to the emigrant 
proprietors, as an indemnity for their losses. This 
plan, though not in formal opposition to the letter 
of the charter, was as much opposed to its spirit, as 
a restoration of the land itself. It was making the 
present proprietors pay, in the form of taxes imposed 
by the state, what, in case of restoration, they would 
pay in the form of rents to their lords. This plan 
was not adopted, but the mere proposition of it had 
no small share in producing the discontent that pre- 
ceded the return of Bonaparte. It has not been 
renewed since the restoration ; and while the liberal 
party predominated in parliament and in the minis- 
try, the very idea of such a thing was frowned upon 
in all quarters. Even the emigrants asserted, that 
it was a calumny to charge them with any intention 
of obtaining either restoration or indemnity. No 
sooner, however, did the political scale turn in their 
favour, than these odious pretensions began to re- 
appear. In the course of the present session it has 
been repeatedly intimated by the emigrants, that if 



102 

they have not made any proposition yet, it is because 
they expect one to be made by the government, and 
the ministry have countenanced the expectation. 
One of the more violent went so far as to state 
publicly in a speech, that they would not now be 
satisfied with indemnity, but must have restitution. 
This remark being rather pointedly noticed on the 
other side, he afterwards explained himself to mean 
a restitution to the emigrants of the price paid 
originally by the new purchasers to the government. 
This construction appears rather forced. Whether or 
not it was his first intention, the general effect upon 
the public is precisely the same. They find the pre- 
tensions of these persons regularly increasing with 
their power ; and if their power continues to advance, 
it is pretty easy to foresee where their pretensions will 
finally arrive. The fanaticism and imprudence of 
the clergy tend strongly to increase the alarm upon 
this subject. Many of them declare it an act of 
impiety to retain this desciiption of property, and 
sometimes refuse absolution upon their death beds 
to its owners. Books are frequently published in 
favour of the pretensions of the emigrants ; and in 
a late instance, where the writer of one of them 
was prosecuted for it by the government, the singu- 
lar and even complimentary indulgence, with which 
he was treated, and which naturally led to his ac- 



103 

quittal, seemed to prove, either that the ministry 
repented of what they had done, or that their object 
was to encourage such publications, rather than to 
check them. 

If no accident should previously occur to effect a 
change in the policy of the French cabinet, it is 
altogether probable that the influence of the emi- 
grants will finally split upon this rock ; and that at 
no yerj distant j eriod. It is not unlikely that a prop- 
osition will be made upon this subject at the next 
session of parliament by the government, and even 
if it passes into a law, it is not easy to see how the 
attempt to carry it into execution can end, otherwise 
than in a change of ministry or a change of dynasty. 
The government would doubtless recur to the former, 
in time to avoid the latter. It is impossible in the 
nature of things, that the great body of proprietors 
will allow themselves to be despoiled of their estates, 
either in form or substance. They are the persons, 
who possess the effective power, and they will surely 
exercise it, if ever, in defence of their property. An 
attempt to unsettle the property of the country, if 
actually made, as seems at present but too probable, 
will be a reach of madness, beyond any thing in the 
proceedings of the Stuarts. It could hardly fail to 
ensure the ruin of its authors, and, I think I may 



104 

add without fear of contradiction from any impartial 
person, would shew that they deserve it.* 

3. In consequence of the course of proceedings 
I have been describing, the situation of pubhc opin- 
ion is far from being so tranquil and satisfactory, as 
it probably would have been under a different one, 
considering the really advantageous position of 
France. The emigrants, though destitute of internal 

* Since the above was written, symptoms have appeared in the cabinet 
of another return to liberal principles. At the commencement of the 
last session of the chambers, two of tlie principal leaders of the emigrants 
in the house of the deputies, Messrs de Villelc and de Corbicres, had been 
appointed cabinet ministers, in order to consolidate the union between 
the ministry and the emigrants. They were, however, not entrusted 
with departments ; the former ministers all retaining their places. The 
emigrants, considering this as a step towards complete ascendancy, were 
satisfied for a time ; and generally supported the gov^ernment during the 
session. But, towards tiie close of it, they began to shew symptoms of 
uneasiness, and of a determination to break with the ministry, unless they 
obtained tlie complete control of the cabinet. They accordingly opposed 
several imiiortant measures ; and treated the ministry in debate with 
gross disrespect. After the session was over, a struggle took place in 
the cabinet, the details of which are of course not fully known. It is 
supposed, that MM. de Villele and de Corbieres insisted upon some 
changes favourable to the emigrants ; and not being able to obtain tiiem, 
resigned in consequence. Wlialever the immediate motive may have 
been, they certainly resigned ; and at the same time, M. de Chateaubriand 
gave up his places, as Minister of State and Minister Plenipotentiary at 
Berlin. Tiiese changes will probably be followed by otiiers in the course 
of the next session, if not before, as tic a ance between the ministry 
and the emigrants is considered as broken by these resigiiations ; and the 
ministry must resort to new combinations, in order to secure a majority 
of the deputies. 



105 

strength, being countenanced by the court, and rep- 
resenting the interest of the great foreign powers, 
exhibit all the outward appearances of an imposing 
and powerful party. Their opponents, on the other 
hand, are strong in the support and attachment of 
the country, and in the essential justice of their 
cause. It is here in fact, and here only, that the 
two great European interests are fairly in presence. 
In every other part of the continent, excepting 
Spain, the expression of liberal opinions is restrained 
by that most pointed of arguments — the bayonet. 
In England, though the government does not always 
proceed upon the most enlarged political notions, 
the opinions of all the considerable parties are more 
or less strongly marked with liberality. There are 
somp newspapers and other journals, which maintain 
the ultra system in regard to continental affairs ; but 
as they cannot venture to apply their principles to 
the concerns of their own country, they form no 
domestic party, and are not countenanced by the 
government in their views of foreign politics. On 
this subject public opinion in England may be con- 
sidered as wholly on the liberal side. It is only in 
France, therefore, at the present momen^t, that the 
parties are fairly at issue. The agitation and zeal, 
which must naturally attend the public discussion 
of such great interests may be easily imagined ; and 
14 



10(3 

I may add, that the ability, with which the contro- 
versy is conducted on both sides, does honour to the 
nation which furnishes the combatants. In this, as 
in other cases, it is by no means the right side, that 
can uniformly boast of the ablest champions. The 
press and the parliament are the two great theatres 
of action. Since the restoration of the preliminary 
censorship on the journals, the latter affords the 
most interesting spectacle. Pamphlets are still free ; 
but as they cannot be commented upon, or even 
noticed in the newspapers, their circulation is com- 
paratively limited ; except when they proceed from 
the pens of a few well known writers, whose names 
alone are a sufficient advertisement and passport for 
all they publish. 

For nearly two years during the time when Mr de 
Cases was in credit, the press was wholly or sub- 
stantially free. I had an opportunity of seeing most 
of the periodical publications and newspapers at this 
period, and am fully satisfied that the same freedom 
might have been maintained without any real dan- 
ger to the public tranquillity. The respectable 
journals were all conducted with the same decency 
as in England and the United States. Public opin- 
ion and regard for their own interest evidently ex- 
ercised the same salutary and sufficient check upon 
the editors, as it does in those countries. Nor was 



107 

there in the less considerable publications any thing 
like the disgusting excess, which has disgraced the 
icheap periodical papers in England for some years 
past. There were boldness and violence on both 
sides, pushed occasionally to the line where they 
touch upon extravagance ; but nothing, which a 
person, habituated to the forms and attached to the 
spirit of representative government, would have 
thought of taking offence at, or regarded as danger- 
ous. The nearest approaches to excess and the 
most marked violence were on the side of the emi- 
grants, perhaps because they were then the weakest 
party. The daily papers were conducted with more 
ability than the best that appear in England or with 
us. Besides these, there were two periodical 
pamphlets, the Conservateur or Preserver, and the 
Minerva, which served as the leading organs of the 
two opinions, and held the same place in the political 
literature of the country, which is occupied by the 
Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews in England, but 
appeared more frequently, and were conducted with 
:\ more immediate reference to passing events. 
They were circulated very exV^nsively through every 
part of the continent. The viscount de Chateau- 
briand was the principal editor of the Conservateur, 
and Mr Benjamin Constant of the Minerva. These 
names alone, which are among the very first in con- 



108 

temporary French literature, are sufficient to shew 
the respectability of the publications in question. 
Their editors were also assisted by other writers of 
distinguished talent, and every article was uniformly 
signed by its author's name. When the journals 
were again subjected to restraint, these remarkable 
publications wore discontinued. The writers, with 
a high spirit not less honourable to them than the 
vigour and elegance of their productions, disdained 
to sub.nit the shoots of their genius to the pruning 
knife of mercenary mediocrity. 

Of the two j)ersons I have mentioned, both pos- 
sessing merit of a very high order, Constant is the 
clearest thinker, and Chateaubriand the most pow- 
erful writer. The latter is essentially a poet, although 
he has never published any thing in verse, and is 
pronounced with justice by the Edinburgh Review 
to be the best poet now living- in France. He em- 
ploys the stately style, of which the writings of Dr 
Johnson are a favourable specimen, and Macpher- 
son's Ossian a caricature. His reach of mind in 
regard to general subjects seems to be limited ; and 
he often reasons withtut any apparent feeling for 
logical consistency and truth. Constant, although 
he has published some tolerable poetry, and writes 
in prose with great elegance, is still more remarka- 
ble, perhaps, for the justice and precision of his 



109 

views on general subjects, and is therefore essential- 
ly a philosopher. His style is lucid and correct, but 
not always sufficiently pointed and nervous ; and if 
not animated by the immediate interest of the sub- 
ject in discussion, is often rather cold. Hence he 
is, upon the whole, a less popular writer than Cha- 
teaubriand, as the public is more taken with poetical 
and pompous language, than with just and perspic- 
uous reasoning, or even original thought. 

Besides these, there are political writers of merit, 
who labour in general in a larger sphere of action, 
and contribute but rarely, if ever, to the journals, 
and whose activity is of course not affected by the 
censure. The liberal party has just sustained a 
severe loss in the most celebrated of its literary 
champions, Madame de Stael, the first of female 
writers, always animated by a truly liberal spirit, 
although her views on particular subjects were often 
warped by the warmth of her feelings and the live- 
liness of her imagination from the strict line of truth. 
Mr de Pradt is still left to supply her place with 
greater activity, if not with equal talent ; a politician, 
who, to use his own facetious phrase, has assisted 
intra muros at all the congresses, which have been 
held in Europe since that of Rastadt ; in some res- 
pects the most remarkable writer of pamphlets that 
has appeared since the time of Burke, but without 



110 

any pretensions to his force of language or logic, 
although engaged in a juster and more generous 
cause. At a later period, Mr Guizot distinguished 
himself by a publication, to which I have already 
alluded, and which created in France more sensation, 
than any single political work that has appeared 
since the king's return. On the opposite side, the 
most distinguished writer, after Chateaubriand, is 
the viscount de Bonald, pronounced by Madame de 
Stael to be the philosopher of anti-philosophy. His 
style has too much of the obscurity, from which hers 
was not always free, and none of the poetical col- 
ouring, with which she redeemed that and her other 
faults. The only quality that gives his writings 
any flavour is a strong infusion of bitterness. The 
Abbe de la Mennais is much before him in point of 
style. He treats political subjects entirely in a theo- 
logical point of- view, and of course in the most 
general and abstract form, except where measures 
relating to the church are under discussion. Two 
or three foreigners, who write in French and pub- 
lish at Paris, have acquired some distinction on the 
same side. Mr de Haller, lately a member of the 
republican government of Berne, claims the honour- 
able title of the modern Bacon. He is publishing 
a voluminous work, entitled the Restoration of 
Political Science, ^\\\\\q\\^ he assures us elsewhere, is 



Ill 

exciting a profound sensation throughout Europe, 
and appears destined to produce the most important 
results. This person has lately been converted from 
the protestant to the catholic faith, and has thereby 
lost his place in the government of Berne. In the 
pamphlet, in which he gives an account of this 
event, he states expressly, that he looks upon himself 
as specially raised up by Providence to effect a great 
reformation in Europe ; the consummation of which 
is to be the return of all wandering protestant sheep to 
the catholic fold. Lastly, the late count de Maistre, 
formerly minister plenipotentiary in Russia, and 
afterwards minister of state in the service of the 
king of Sardinia, has defended in a variety of publi- 
cations the doctrines of orthodoxy in religion and 
politics, which are now generally coupled together 
by their champions, the former meaning popery. Of 
what use, he inquires in one of * these works, are 
general councils to bring back heretics to the faith? 
Is not the pillory sufficient f This passage may give 
the measure of his liberality and humanity. His 
books however are printed in various languages, 
and circulated gratis by the religious associations on 
the continent. 

In general, the effort made by the anti-constitu- 
tional party in Europe to unite their cause with that 
of religion, aad the point of view' upder which they 



112 

present this subject, in order to effect their purposes, 
are proofs, either of gross hypocrisy, or of ahiiost 
incredible fanaticism. It is hardly necessary to re- 
mark, what is felt and acknowledged by every per- 
son of intelligence, that in the present age the most 
expedient course for maintaining the influence of 
religious sentiments over the public mind is to allow 
the spirit of inquiry to proceed without opposition, 
in clearing away the erroneous and superstitious 
appendages, which have been connected with these 
sentiments at other periods in the progress of society. 
The only principle, which can be admitted as a 
qualification of this, is the necessity of exercising 
caution in the change of established forms and insti- 
tutions. But this party are so blindly bent upon 
accomplishing their immediate ends, that they wish 
to break up existing forms, not in order to substitute 
new ones, more analogous to the substance, but in 
order to bring back the still more antiquated and 
irrational usages of a wholly barbarous age. The 
restoration of the unity of the christian church is 
one of the leading objects, upon which they are 
accustomed to insist. All good men must join them 
in wishing for its accomplishment ; and all intelli- 
gent men must perceive, that it is very rapidly ap- 
proaching in the form of a constantly increasing 
conviction among ail the sects, that the points which 



113 

divide them are immaterial, and that the spirit of 
Christianity resides in those, which are common to 
them all. We have seen accordingly within a 
few years the two principal sects of protestants 
in Germany publicly uniting ; and the alliance 
founded avowedly on a religious basis between 
three sovereigns, each adhering to a separate creed, 
is at once a strong confirmation of this remark, and 
a signal proof how thoroughly the spirit of the age 
has penetrated into every corner of the christian 
world ; since the very persons, who call themselves 
its enemies and are constantly decrying it, act almost 
unconsciously under its influence, whenever it does 
not contradict their immediate objects. But not 
content with this gradual and rapid progress towards 
the desired union, the party in question can imagine 
no other way of accomplishing it, but by the formal 
return of all heretics to the catholic faith, and the 
universal acknowledgment of the infallibility of the 
pope, unlimited even by the restrictions with which 
it was qualified by the catholics themselves, at the 
first dawn of reviving intelligence in Europe. 

As this party are confessedly more rigid catholics 
than the pope, so it is one of their distinguishing 
characters, as they appear in France, that they are 
better royalists than the king, and hence their desig- 
nation of ultras. They made but little secret of their 
15 



114 

contempt for his person and policy, and publicly as- 
sumed as their device, ' Vive le Roi quand meme^ — 
' God save the king, ncA^ertheless.' This expression, 
which wears an ambiguous form, was customary 
among the royalists in la Vendee, when the cause of 
the Bourbons was at the lowest ebb; and then meant 
that those who used it were true to the royal family, 
notwithstanding their disastrous fortune. It was 
now understood to mean, that they would be true 
to the king, although he had ceased to be true to 
himself. 

In parliament the opinions of the contending 
parties are expressed with a vivacity very charac- 
teristic of the national character, and with a variety 
of shades and subdivisions, resulting, in part, from 
the same cause. The house of deputies is regularly 
separated into three sections, the right and left 
sides, and the centre. The two former support, 
respectively, the constitutional and anti-constitu- 
tional opinions ; and the last is composed of the 
adherents of the ministry, as such, and consists, in 
a great measure, of public functionaries. This 
arrangement of the house results from the neutral- 
izing system which has prevailed in the cabinet ; 
and the ministerial majority is obtained by the 
concurrence of the one or the other opposition with 
their immediate partisans. The union of the two 



115 

iiostile parties against a measure would, at any 
time, defeat it. This result has often happened ; 
and it also happens, very frequently, that the min- 
istry carry a measure in opposition to the party 
which they generally favour, by the assistance of 
the other. The two parties, though bitterly op- 
posed in points of faith, often agree in their opin- 
ions in matters of discipline, in consequence of their 
common interest as parties in opposition. They 
both unite in claiming the liberty of the press ; 
and even in the present session when the ministry 
have exhibited so strong a leaning to the emigrants, 
the committee, appointed by the usual ministerial 
majority composed of this party and the centre, to 
make a report upon a law proposed by the govern- 
ment for the continuance of the restraints on the 
journals, have concluded against it. Each party- 
is so perfectly confident of the justice of its cause 
and the ability of its champions, that both are quite 
certain of ultimate success, if they are permitted to 
carry on the war with freedom. They spurn at 
the idea that public discussions are attended with 
any danger to the state, and pretend that it is only 
tha conscious imbecility of the ministry which 
makes them fear to encounter the shock of unre- 
strained criticism. Whatever danger may exist, 
they are willing to risk, and with the generous 



116 

indignation felt bj Ajax in the Iliad at the idea of 
lighting under a cloud, they are even ready to 
perish, if, in dying, they can leave a sting in the 
wound they inflict upon their adversary. 

Zeu TTufip. «AA« cu fuFsf.i vtt' ijipoi v'rxi; A^oiiav ' 

Ev Si (pait xui oAffTcrov, sVf/ vv Tot elxoev ehrai;. 

Besides these three principal divisions of the 
house, there existed, during the period of the 
administration of Mr do Cases and the prevalence 
of a more liberal policy in the cabinet, a subdi- 
vision of the left side, commonly called, by their 
adversaries, the doctrinaires or pedants, which, at 
that time, gave the tone to the majority, but which, 
by the change of circumstances and parties, has 
since ceased to exist. The individuals composing 
it were decidedly liberal, and of course removed 
even then by a considerable shade of difference 
from the merely ministerial party, and for the 
same reason obnoxious to the emigrants ; but being 
not less remarkable for learning and moderation 
than for liberal principles, they were often at vari- 
ance with the most determined and violent mem- 
bers of their own side. Their opponents sometimes 
found it convenient not to understand what they 
could not very readily confute, and affected to 
describe them as obscure and metaphysical reason- 



117 

ers ; and in reality some of them occasionally 
entered more at large into abstract discussions, than 
is quite suitable to the practical despatch of busi- 
ness ; although the ability with which they man- 
aged such inquiries always did them great honour. 
Of the small number of persons composing this 
coterie, Mr de Serre, one of the ministry, has since 
enlisted under the royalist banner ; MM. Ca- 
rnille Jordan and Royer CoUard, then members of 
the council of state, were subsequently removed 
from this post, and the former is since dead. The 
latter is still the principal representative in the 
house of the same opinions, but from the change 
of circumstances has but little influence. His 
speeches on important subjects are perhaps the 
most remarkable specimens of scientific political 
reasoning, that have ever appeared in any country 
in this form. This style of speaking is rarely 
attempted, either in the British parliament or in 
congress. The speeches of Burke and of Sir 
James Mackintosh give a better idea of it, than any 
others in the English language. They are, how- 
ever, less abstract ; and, considered as specimens 
of eloquence, are for that reason doubtless superior. 
Mr Guizot, whom I have already mentioned, is the 
most remarkable writer attached to this party. He 
was also a member of the council of state, and was 



118 

removed at the same time with the others. On 
account of his youth, he was not eligible to the 
house of deputies. 

With these remarks on the situation of public 
opinion and the modes and varieties of its expres- 
sion, I shall close this imperfect sketch of the state 
of France. The substance of it may be recapitu- 
lated in a very few words. The political consti- 
tution of France is sound and vigorous in its 
essential parts, beyond that of any other nation in 
Europe. The outward appearance exhibits morbid 
symptoms at first view of a serious and alarming 
character ; but which, examined more nearly, can 
hardly be regarded as dangerous, and must soon 
vanish under the restoring influence of an active 
vital principle within. If we cross the Pyrenees, 
we arrive in a region placed for the present in a 
far less agreeable situation, but which holds out, 
nevertheless, the most encouraging prospects for the 
future. 



119 

CHAPTER III. 

Spain and Portugal. 

It may seem paradoxical to regard the revolu- 
tions in Spain and Portugal in favour of popular 
principles, as natural results of the progress of 
industry, wealth, and civilization, considering that 
in all these respects the peninsula has been, for two 
or three centuries, apparently on the decline. It 
is, however, sufficiently obvious, that these revolu- 
tions are, in reality, connected with the general 
effort for political improvement, that agitates the 
whole christian world ; and are not isolated events 
resulting from independent and separate causes. 
If, therefore, the apparent anomaly did not admit 
of a satisfactory explanation, it could only be 
because the facts connected with the subject were 
imperfectly known. The following considerations 
will, perhaps, be thought to furnish a sufficiently 
plausible account of it. 

As valuable political institutions contribute more 
than any other cause to the improvement and pros- 
perity of a country, so they derive, in their turn, 
their own stability and strength from the reaction 
of these effects upon themselves. A vicious consti- 
tution, and its natural attendant, a vicious course of 



12U 

administration, while they tend to destroy all the 
sources of the public welfare, affect in the same or 
in a still greater degree, the vigour and firmness of 
the government. When a nation has once entered 
upon a retrograde course, the natural progress is 
undoubtedly from bad to worse ; and the natural 
conclusion is a state of utter desolation and com- 
plete physical ruin, as we see exemplified in the 
Mahometan countries. But if any accidental 
causes, from within or from without, counteract 
this movement and impress a different direction on 
the character and condition of the people, an effort 
for political improvement, will meet with less resis- 
tance from the government, precisely in proportion 
to the degree of degradation into which the nation 
had previously sunk, because the government is 
necessarily feeble to the same or a greater extent. 
Hence an amount of moral or physical force en- 
listed in the cause of civilization will be sufficient 
to produce a complete revolution in Spain and 
Portugal, which would not have excited a mo- 
ment's apprehension in the governments of France 
or England. A still smaller force would produce 
the same effects in Morocco, Turkey, or Persia, 
because these countries have fallen still lower 
in the scale of civilization, and their govern- 
ments are proportionately still more feeble. The 



121 

only difficulty is to impart to a people in such a 
situation even the slight healthy movement neces- 
sary to change their direction and overcome the 
first obstacles. Every thing in nature occurs by 
the operation of general causes ; and when these 
have been depraved, and their operation has become 
vicious, it would be as unreasonable to expect the 
natural occurrence of any favourable event, as it 
would be to look for the appearance of disease in 
a perfectly healthy body, without any previous 
unfavourable accident from within or without. 
Thus we see the Mahometan countries going on 
from age to age in progressive and gradually in- 
creasing decay, although the appearance of a single 
individual of a certain elevation of character in any 
one of them would be sufficient to regenerate the 
whole. Another Mahomet would restore with 
comparative ease the prosperity and' power which 
the first created ; and though the appearance of 
such an individual is almost impossible in the regu- 
lar progress of events, it is really surprising that it 
should not have been brought about by some 
favourable accident, considering the intimate rela- 
tions between the Mahometan countries and those 
of Europe. 

The situation of Spain was more fortunate for 
this purpose, and it has been for some tiuie under 
16 



122 

the operation of causes, internal and external, 
tending to counteract the progress of decay, and 
to impress a favourable direction on the movement 
of the body politic. 

1. It is by no means true, as is perhaps gen- 
erally supposed, that Spain had been constantly 
declining up to the period of the invasion of Bona- 
parte. The best statistical and political accounts 
prove, on the contrary, that the epoch of the great- 
est weakness and degradation of that country 
should be fixed more than a century ago, at the 
close of the war of the succession. A long course of 
previous misgovernment, and the desolation carried 
through the country by this ruinous struggle, had 
reduced the population from twenty or thirty 
millions, which it is said to have contained at some 
previous periods in its history, to about six. The 
restoration of peace, the introduction of a better 
spirit into the cabinet, and the encouragement given 
to industry by the great development of commerce 
that occurred at this time throughout the world, 
operated together to change the course of events ; 
and from this time to the present, notwithstanding 
the obstacles opposed to their progress by vicious 
institutions of every description, industry and 
wealth seem to have been regularly and rapidly 
advancing, and to sucJi an extent, that in the cen- 



123 

tury following the war of the succession, the 
population of Spain was doubled, being now calcu- 
lated at nearly twelve millions. This is a greater 
augmentation of numbers and implies a more 
favourable change in the situation of the country, 
than occurred during the same period in any other 
in Europe, excepting Great Britain, which also 
doubled its population within the same time. The 
whole additional force thus created, constituting in 
fact the only effective political power in the coun- 
try, was necessarily attached to the cause of 
political reform ; or in other words was desirous 
of the removal of the w anton and senseless obsta- 
cles to the public welfare, in opposition to which it 
had risen into existence, and \vith which it was 
constantly struggling for life and death. 

2. The operation of this favourable internal 
cause was greatly increased by the contact, which, 
notwithstanding its isolated and apparently stagnant 
position, necessarily existed between Spain and the 
other nations of Europe. Europe forms, in reality, 
but one great commonwealth, and its members 
sympathise with each other like the limbs of an 
organized body. On the common principles which 
regulate the sympathy and communication between 
different divisions of the same system, it was nat- 
ural, after an active spirit of reform and improve- 



124 

nient had become general in Europe, that a consid- 
erable portion of it should pass into Spain, precisely 
because that country was among those that afforded 
the greatest field for hs exercise, and stood most in 
need of its assistance. The friends of liberty in 
Spain were enlightened and encouraged and 
inspired by the enterprise and success of the friends 
of liberty in England, France, and America. The 
principle of improvement which had sprung up at 
home, and which, under other circumstances, 
might not have proved strong enough to resist the 
influence of vicious institutions, and might have 
withered and died away under their continuing 
pressure, was cherished and strengthened from 
abroad. With such aid it continued to act with 
increasing effect, and the country was at length in 
a situation to take advantage of any favourable 
circumstance that might present itself for obtahiing 
an improvement in its political institutions. Hence, 
when the convulsions of the French revolution 
extended into Spain ; when Bonaparte had finally, 
in a moment of something more than his habitual 
wantonness and wickedness, kidnapped the royal 
family, and garrisoned all the strong places with 
his troops, there Avas found a mass of population, 
intelligence, and character, competent to resist this 



125 

aggression, and to give the invader such a reception 
as he had little calculated upon. 

For, while the nation had been advancing in 
industry, wealth, and population, the government 
had taken very little, if any, share in this course 
of improvement. The gleam of intelligence and 
humanity, that appeared in the cabinet after the 
war of the succession, departed with the individ- 
uals from whom it emanated, without having pro- 
duced any effect on the form or spirit of the existing 
institutions. And at no period in the history of 
Spain had the cabinet exhibited a more disgusting 
spectacle of imbecility and iniquity, than at the one 
immediately preceding the French invasion. It must 
have fallen at the first attack from within or with- 
out ; and if the shock had not been given by a 
foreign invader, the spirit of improvement would 
have displayed itself very shortly in the form of 
internal convulsions. 

Hence, too, when the king, upon his return, 
rejected the constitution and dissolved the cortes, 
the whole effective part of the nation separated 
itself from him, and entered spontaneously into a 
virtual, and, very soon after, into an actual secret 
association against his government. The whole 
peninsula was divided into regions and districts, all 
regularly organized for the purpose of correspon- 



126 

flcncc and communication. This vast organization 
appears to have assumed at first, in order to dis- 
guise its objects the better, the garb of masonry ; 
and hence arose the fury, with which the inquisi- 
tion at that time denounced and persecuted all 
masonic societies. It comprehended almost every 
person of consideration in the country, (excepting 
the higher clergy,) a great part of the public func- 
tionaries, governors of provinces, and nearly all the 
officers in the army. The postmasters were also 
generally in the same interest ; and I have been 
assured by a person, who was himself an active 
member of this association, that, for a length of 
time, the whole correspondence of the country 
regularly passed through the hands of its agents, 
and was opened and examined by them, the gov- 
ernment itself not thinking it necessary at that time 
to exercise any such police. So vast an intrigue 
could not wholly escape the attention of the min- 
istry, however infatuated and feeble. It was de- 
nounced and detected, its papers were seized, vast 
numbers of its members were arrested and impris- 
oned, and others compelled to flee the country. 
Still the association continued in a more secret 
shape. The several abortive conspiracies that 
occurred from time to time were only imprudent 
or precipitate attempts, inspired by the great 



127 

general design ; and its existence was sufficientlj 
manifested by the simultaneous movements that 
finally occurred at once in aid of the last successful 
enterprise, at so many ditferent points of the penin- 
sula. These secret proceedings, anterior to the 
public revolutionary events, are not yet within the 
domain of history, and are imperfectly known in 
their details, but I can vouch, from information 
derived' immediately from unquestionable author- 
ities, for the correctness of the general facts here 
stated, the most important of which are also 
recorded in the best memoirs of the Spanish revo- 
lution. 

These circumstances then se'em to account suffi- 
ciently for the occurrence of a revolution in favour 
of liberty in Spain, notwithstanding its apparent 
state of hopeless degradation. It is highly satisfac- 
tory to be able to consider this important event as 
the result of general causes, and not merely as the 
wild enterprise of a few revolted regiments. Had 
it been a movement of this description, it might have 
been quelled with the same expedition, with which 
it was undertaken ; and have left no more traces in 
the history of the country, than an occasional revolt 
of the janizaries does in Turkey. If we are at 
liberty to regard it as founded in the condition and 
feelings of the nation, there is reason to hope that it 



128 

will result in the ultimate establishment of liberal 
institutions, whatever convulsions may attend its 
progress. 

The military and political events of this revolution 
are of too recent occurrence, and of too public a 
character to require a recapitulation here. Its im- 
mediate results are so uncertain, and in a course of 
such rapid accomplishment, that it would be at once 
rash and useless to pretend to conjecture their char- 
acter. It can hardly be denied, even by its enemies, 
that the revolution has thus far been conducted with 
extraordinary wisdom and moderation ; and that the 
excesses on the side of the friends of liberty, consid- 
ering the difiiculties of their position, and the prov- 
ocations they have received, have been very trifling. 
If it could be hoped that the enemies of the new 
system, who are principally the higher clergy, would 
abstain from their treasonable machinations against 
it, there might be much reason for indulging the 
expectation, that this great reform would be carried 
through, in the same discreet and temperate spirit, 
in which it was begun. Unfortunately, it appears 
probable that these counter revolutionary attempts 
are rather increasing than diminishing ; and it is 
also morally certain, that the king himself is ill ad- 
vised enough to give his confidence to secret coun- 
sellors, instead of his constitutional and responsible 



129 

ministers. It is even asserted in late newspapers, 
that letters have been intercepted, addressed by order 
of Ferdinand to the curate Merino, the leader of a 
horde of banditti in open rebellion against the gov- 
ernment. However this may be, the occurrences 
attending the change of ministry leave no doubt 
upon the general fact above stated. At the opening 
of the cortes, the king, after delivering the speech 
which had been prepared and adopted in the council 
of ministers, concluded with a number of additional 
remarks on the dangers, which he conceived to 
threaten his own person. This imprudent and un- 
constitutional proceeding was necessarily followed 
by the resignation of the ministers ; and in a country 
where the doctrine of ministerial responsibility was 
well understood, and habitually acted upon, the 
king would have met with some difficulty in finding 
any persons of high character to take their places. 
The fact proves to a demonstration, that he is under 
the influence of a private council, composed, beyond 
a doubt, of priests, who act upon his mind by the 
engine of fanaticism. The probable consequences 
of such imprudence and weakness to the tranquillity 
of the country, and to the safety of the unfortunate 
monarch himself, are but too evident. 

One of the doubtful points in the present state of 
affairs iii Spain is the part that may be taken by 
17 



130 

Gen. Morillo. This officer has returned from his 
long campaign in South America with a high mili- 
tary reputation ; and ahnost immediately after his 
arrival was appointed captain general of Madrid. 
His sentiments in regard to the revolution have not 
yet been declared with sufficient precision. On the 
one hand, his persevering struggle against the 
independence of Venezuela might be supposed to 
imply an aversion to constitutional principles ; and 
the confidence which is now placed in him by the 
king would seem to prove, that he has given satis- 
factory evidence in private of his dislike to the revo- 
lution. On the other hand, his language, though 
mild and temperate, has been hitherto wholly con- 
stitutional. Should he attach himself decidedly to 
the king, and should a counter-revolbtion be at- 
tempted, its movers would then be sure of at least 
one military officer of distinguished talent ; but it is 
hardly probable that Morillo would carry with him 
any considerable portion of the army. It appears 
not unlikely, that this officer is pre])aring to be the 
Bonaparte of Spain, should circumstances favour 
the playing of such a part. But in this, as in other 
matters relating to the immediate future prospects 
of this country, conjectures are worse than unprofit- 
able. It may be sufficient, if we venture to antici- 
pate from present appearances, as the general result 



131 

of the revolution, the establishment of political in- 
stitutions founded in rational liberty, after an inter- 
vening period of danger, difficulty, and probably 
serious convulsion. This prediction, the only one 
that can be made with a good degree of confidence, 
is about as precise and edifying, as the prophecies in 
the almanac of snow in February and warm weather 
in June. Without dwelling any longer on this part 
of the subject, I shall add a few general remarks on 
the Spanish constitution, and on the probable effects 
of the revolution on the situation of the colonies. 
These observations will apply equally to Spain and 
Portugal, which are placed in both these respects in 
precisely similar circumstances ; their constitutions 
and colonial system being substantially the same. 
1. The Spanish constitution was drawn up at a 
period of great embarrassment ; and there might be 
some reason for surprise, that it is as good as we find 
it, were it not that in reality there is very little 
difficulty in putting together upon paper the ele- 
mentary principles of government, and tracing a 
form of practical administration. Of these forms 
an infinite variety may be imagined, and chalked 
out ; and the practical effect of all will probably be 
in substance nearly the same ; because they are all 
controlled in their operation by causes of a higher 
and more general nature, founded in the condition 



132 

and character of the people upon which they are to 
operate. The forms of government were the same 
at Rome under the emperors, as they had been under 
the consuls ; although, from the alteration in tlie 
condition and character of the ])eople, the substance 
had changed from an irregular democracy to a mil- 
itary despotism. The Spanish constitution, in its 
present form, will probably never have a fair trial ; 
and will doubtless undergo many important altera- 
tions before the government assumes a settled and 
permanent shape. The intervening troubles, through 
which the country may pass, will perhaps be ascribed 
by superficial observers to the defects of the consti- 
tution, as they were in France ; while, in reality, 
the cause of them in both cases must be looked for 
in the difficulties of the crisis. 

The establishment of the cortes in the form of a 
single assembly is regarded by many of the friends 
of liberty, as a very unfortunate arrangement. But 
this objection, founded in a great measure on an 
erroneous theory of the British constitution, has, in 
my opinion, very little weight. It supposes that the 
existence of a nominal aristocracy is a point of great 
importance. But even admitting the correctness of 
this idea, which might however be contested on 
various grounds, it may be asked with pertinence, 
whether the security of such an aristocracy depends 



133 

upon their being shut up in a separate room to de- 
liberate on the public affairs ; whether, like ciphers 
in notation, they are personally insignificant, and 
only acquire importance by their local position ; 
whether their political weight does not depend, on 
the contrary, upon their property ; whether, as long 
as they retain their property, they will not also retain 
their influence ; and whether to form a part of the 
same legislative assembly is not the most favourable 
position, in which they can be placed for exercising 
the influence their property gives them, while they 
retain it, over their supposed enemies. 

The king's prerogative is also said to be too much 
restricted ; but this objection is not better founded 
than the other. In a constitutional monarchy the 
appointment of the ministers is the only function, 
which the king can really exercise ; and this is at- 
tributed to him in Spain. 

In one or two points of smaller importance, it 
would perhaps be possible to discover some real 
defects. There is an evident incongruity in the right 
granted to the cortes of summoning the king's min- 
isters to appear before them, and give an account of 
the progress of public affairs. In a constitutional 
monarchy the ministers are responsible, as citizens, 
for their official conduct, and may be brought before 
the regular tribunals for any part of it ; but, as min- 



134 

isters in the exercise of their functions, they are the 
king's agents, and have no account to render but to 
him. The information, sometimes given by the 
British ministry in parliament, is regarded as a mat- 
ter of courtesy ; and when asked is granted or refus- 
ed, at discretion. Another objectionable feature of 
more importance is the provision which makes the 
members of the existing cortes ineligible for the 
succeeding one. The inconveniences of this regu- 
lation are sufficiently obvious, and are felt so strong- 
ly in Spain at the present moment, that every effort 
is now making to induce the king to summon an 
extraordinary session of the cortes, after which the 
members are again eligible. 

The essential excellence of the Spanish constitu- 
tion, the quality that makes it dear to the friends of 
liberty, and odious to the partisans of arbitrary 
power, is its honesty. It is, w hat it professes to be, 
a real representative government ; and is not, like 
some others that bear the name, a mere mockery 
and pageant, more abhorrent to an independent 
mind, than tyranny in a plain, unsophisticated shape, 
because insulting as well as oppressive. 

2. Thd most interesting aspect, undcT which the 
Spanish and Portuguese revolutions present them- 
selves to the citizens of the United States, I may 
say indeed to the world at large, is that, under 



1S5 

which they are considered as affecting the condition 
of the American colonies. No doubt can be enter- 
tained, that the complete emancipation of these vast 
regions will be effected at no great distance of time ; 
and the simultaneous erection of these hitherto in- 
signilicent settlements into eight or ten independent 
and powerful nations may well be considered as one 
of the most extraordinary and interesting events that 
ever occurred. It can hardly fail, when its conse- 
quences shall be fully developed, to give an entirely 
new face to the political and commercial affairs of 
the world. 

The struggle for independence in the Spanish 
colonies has been precipitated by the convulsions in 
the mother country, and is not, like our revolution, 
a spontaneous effort, resulting from an internal con- 
sciousness of capacity for self-government. This is 
the most unfavourable circumstance attending it. It 
is this cause which draws out the contest into such 
a weary length, and which, after the formal emanci- 
pation shall be effected, may very probably entail 
upon these countries a long period of anarchy and 
discord. A spontaneous effort for freedom implies a 
maturity of intellectual and physical resources sufii- 
cient to secure the object with ease, and to improve 
it to the best advantage. A coloiiy, thus emanci- 
pated, is like a ripe fruit, that drops from its parent 



136 

tree at the moment of full maturity, and springs up 
naturally into a new and vigorous plant. The free- 
dom of South America is a premature birth. It does 
not proceed from the healthy action of nature, ope- 
rating within at the proper time, but has been 
forced upon the colonies by accidents occurring 
abroad. Considered as a rebellion against the 
Spanish government, it is just, if any enterprise ever 
deserved that qualification ; and would have been, 
at whatever period it might have happened. No 
society was probably ever subject to a more intoler- 
able and revolting system of misgovernment ; and 
it is impossible to deny the right of resistance under 
such circumstances, without denying completely the 
inherent and universal right of self-defence against 
injustice and oppression. But, considered as a 
measure intended to promote the happiness of the 
South Americans, the revolution presents itself in a 
less favourable point of view, and might probably 
have been delayed with great advantage for tw o or 
three centuries. The Americans, however, are not 
to bear the blame for this precipitation. They have 
been subjected to the action of political forces, over 
which they had no control. A revolution, however 
premature, was the necessary result of the circum- 
stances, in which they were placed ; and, although 
its aspect may for some time present maiiy features 



137 

not very consonant with just notions of liberty, still 
the friends of humanity must wish for their success, 
and are bound by all suitable means to promote it. 
The policy which may be adopted by the Spanish 
government in regard to their colonies is still uncer- 
tain ; and in the period of trouble and confusion that 
may very probably occur at home, the possessions 
abroad must be left in a great measure to themselves. 
At present, the plans under consideration contemplate 
the establishment of constitutional governments, 
nominally subject to Spain, and administered on the 
spot by princes of the royal family. If the mother 
country had the power to enforce this arrangement, 
it might perhaps be as favourable to the ultimate 
well being of the colonies, as their immediate eman- 
cipation. But this is not the case ; and after strug- 
gling, as they have done, for independence for ten 
or twelve years, it can hardly be expected that they 
will abandon the prize of their own accord, at the 
very moment of success. It is therefore much to be 
wished for the interest of humanity, of the colonies, 
and of Spain herself, that she may abstain from any 
further wanton waste of reso.urces and life, and sub- 
mit with a good grace to the decree of necessity. 
She will probably find, as England did, the eman- 
cipation of her colonies infinitely more profitable to 
her, than their possession ; and in exchange for the 
18 



138 

vain name of ruling the Indies, will find the wealth 
of the Indies pouring in to her territory in fertilizing 
streams, instead of merely rolling through it, as it 
now does, like a mountain torrent, and leaving no 
marks of its passage, but barrenness and desolation. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Italy and Greece. 

The late events in Italy are, like those in Spain, 
too recent and too notorious, to require particular 
mention in so general a sketch as this. The friends 
of liberty were disappointed by the feeble resistance 
which the Neapolitans opposed to the invasion of 
Austria. No doubt the cause was betrayed by some 
of the principal pretended patriots ; and this is the 
best apology that can be offered for the easy discom- 
fiture of the rest. Even this, however, is but a poor 
excuse ; and the shameful defection of so many of 
the chiefs proves that the higher classes of society 
in Italy are as corrupt and unprincipled, as the mass 
of the people are uninformed and wretched. In such 
a soil, it may well be doubted whether rational lib- 
erty, and the institutions fitted to secure it, will ever 
be a spontaneous growth. 



139 

Que peut-on au milieu de ce peuple abattu ? 
Benjamin est sans force, et Juda sans vertu. 

Nevertheless, as the sph'it of political improvement 
gains ground in Europe, it will probably exercise a 
beneficial influence upon the character of the Italians, 
as well as upon the policy and disposition of the 
cabinets which have recently succeeded in foiling 
their attempts ; and the ability to organise a better 
system at home may grow up in the gradual progress 
of events, under the operation of causes, which may- 
be expected at the same time to remove the hostility 
of foreign powers to its esta^^lishment. 

The unjust interference of these powers has 
however after all, on this, as on former occasions, 
been the real cause, which has checked the efforts 
of the Italians, and entailed upon them a continuance 
of all the evils under which they labour. It is true, 
that a long course of misgovernment and oppression 
has depraved in a great measure the whole frame of 
society ; but, as was observed in regard to Spain, the 
stability and vigour of the established institutions 
has been sapped to an equal degree. We see this 
plainly enough in their utter incapacity through the 
whole extent of Italy to execute the first and most 
indispensable function that devolves upon govern- 
ments, that of protecting the property and persons 
of the citizens from violence. Hence, although the 



140 

movement in a better direction might at tirst be fee- 
ble, the resistance of the governments would be 
feebler still ; and the slightest force could hardly 
fail to overcome it ; as happened in fact at Naples. 
Thus if the country were left to itself, it would find, 
in the state of degradation and decay to which it had 
sunk, the antidote as well as the poison ; and the 
people would have had the opportunity of acquiring 
information respecting the principles of good gov- 
ernment in the practical school of experience, the 
only one in which they can be studied with effect. 
They might have falleij into errors, or committed 
excesses at the beginning, but would finally have 
worked out their own salvation, had they not been 
stopped short in their progress, and condemned to 
another period of hopeless oppression, by the inter- 
ference of the christian allies. 

It is difficult to speak of the conduct of these allies 
in regard to Italy with the moderation, which usage 
has appropriated to the discussion of public measures 
and characters. Precisely similar in their essential 
features to the aggressions of Bonaparte, and to the 
partition of Poland by the same powers, they are 
yet more odious than either, because they are mask- 
ed by hypocritical pretences of religion and justice. 
The Austrian government, incapable of alleging even 
the possibility of actual danger from the revolution 



141 

at Naples, was compelled to seek a pretext for in- 
vasion in the supposed irregularity of the manner, in 
which it was effected. It was the work of secret 
societies and a revolted army. What then ? Is it 
for Austria to regulate the manner in which the 
people of the Sicilies should reform their institutions? 
But mark the impudence of these pretences. Secret 
societies and revolted troops were the great machines 
employed by the German powers, and Austria among 
the rest, in shaking off the yoke of Napoleon. Not 
only so, but this very society of Colliers, which is 
denounced as seditious and impious, was founded 
under the patronage and encouragement of the 
allied powers; and for objects precisely similar to 
those, for which it has now been employed. Is it 
admissible for powers, which respect either the pub- 
lic or themselves, to insult in this way common 
sense and consistency, by denouncing their own 
proceedings as criminal, when imitated by others, 
and condemning, as treasonable, institutions of their 
own foundation ? If we even wave all these con- 
siderations, and state the language of the allies in 
the form most favourable to them, it amounts to 
this : you are pursuing an object which we think 
injurious ; you have adopted one political system and 
we another ; we will force ours upon you at the 
point of the bayonet. Shame itself ought to have 



142 

arrested them in such a project, when they remem- 
bered that their only pretext for the long wars they 
had waged against the French revolution was the 
disposition shewn by France to force her political 
systems upon other nations, systems at least as 
plausible as that of the allies, and maintained by 
those who propagated them w ith at least as much 
honesty. The conduct of the French convention 
in this particular is denounced by Martens as mon- 
strous ; but circumstances alter cases ; and this 
worthy publicist, in his capacity of member of the 
German diet, would probably have applied a much 
milder epithet to the invasion of Naples by the 
allies under the same pretences. It affords some 
consolation to the regret, which must be felt by the 
friends of liberty at the success of such proceed- 
ings, to find them reprobated in all the civilized 
parts of the christian world v» ith a more general 
consent of the public voice, than has been applied 
to any measure since the partition of Poland. 

Thus all the arguments, which could have been 
employed by the allies to justify their invasion of 
Italy, had been completely refuted in advance by 
the whole tenor of their language and conduct for 
thirty years past. These powers have since taken 
pains to refute them in another form by the policy 
they have adopted in regard to the Greeks, which 



143 

may be looked upon as a reduciio ad absurdum of 
the doctrine of legitimacy. A horde of wandering 
barbarians carry fire and sword through the fairest 
region in Christendom, and succeed in subverting its 
government. They are the common enemies of 
Europe, and have repeatedly attempted to spread 
their desolating dominion over the rest of it. 
Nothing but want of power prevents them ; and 
instead of acquiring civilization from residing in 
the neighbourhood of christian countries, they have 
given, at the very moment when the allies were 
deliberating upon the subject, more horrid proofs of 
barbarism and cruelty, than appear in any part 
of their previous history. The nation that groans 
under their yoke, and is now making a probably 
fruitless effort to shake it off, is, on the contrary, in 
itself, one of the most estimable branches of the 
European family, and is especially dear and inter- 
esting to all the rest, as the intellectual parent, to 
which they are indebted for their present superiority- 
over the other parts of the world. Here then, since 
the allies have established the doctrine of inter- 
ference, was a cause in which it might have been 
applied with general approbation. I venture to say 
that there is not a heart in Christendom,, uncon- 
nected with this holy league, that would not have 
swelled with extacy at the emancipation of Greece. 



144. 

and the return of freedom and civilization, to the 
country from which they sprang. No doubt there 
is some illusion in this enthusiasm, but it is an 
illusion which every generous mind is proud to 
indulge, and which comes in aid of the incontes- 
table claims of natural justice. Here then, the 
allies might at once have proved their honesty and 
have done something to redeem their popularity. But 
no ; the Grand Turk is, it seems, legitimate ; and 
the execution of the patriarchs in cold blood 
requires no atonement, calls for no interference, 
when done in the name of legitimacy ; while the 
introduction of the most important improvements in 
administration into a country, which is perishing for 
want of them, is a sacrilegious and treasonable 
enterprise, that must be crushed by open force, 
because it bears the name of revolution. Instead 
of interfering in favour of the Greeks, the allies 
have, on the contrary, done every thing to dis- 
courage them, short of an absolute military alliance 
with the Turks. In reality it is their policy, accord- 
ing to the short-sighted and mistaken view they 
are accustomed to take of it, to frown upon this 
enterprise. The establishment of a powerful gov- 
ernment, administered on liberal principles in their 
immediate neighbourhood, is not a pleasant thought 
to these iron despots ; and a constitutional Greek 



145 

empire would be a still less agreeable object of 
contemjDiatioii than a constitutional kingdom in 
Italy. Instead of fav^ouring the erection of these 
fine countries into an independent state, it suits 
their purpose much better to leave them as they 
are, till the proper period arrives for taking them 
into their own hands, a measure for which a suffi- 
cient pretext will never be long wanting in the 
conduct of such a government as that of Turkey. 
All the accounts from the theatre of this struggle 
are so contradictory and uncertain, that it is impos- 
sible to form an opinion upon its present state or 
probable result. It would appear that the Greeks 
have been successful in the peninsula and on the 
islands ; and that they have the command of the 
sea. If they have really gained these advantages, 
it will be hardly possible for the Turks to recover 
them, should they even maintain themselves in the 
provinces along the Danube ; and we may venture 
to indulge a hope, that at least the proper territory 
of ancient Greece, the scene of so much greatness 
and glory in former times, will now resume its 
political independence. This would at once relieve 
the niQst numerous and civilized portion of the 
christian subjects of Turkey from that detestable 
yoke, and would furnish a rallying point for the 
future efforts of the rest. The day, it may be 
19 



146 

hoped, is not now very far remote, when the civil- 
ization of Europe will overflow its present limits, 
and carry wealth and happiness through the whole 
of those delightful but desolate regions, that em- 
bosom the Mediterranean. Could the christian 
powers but act together for good with as much 
cordiality as they often do for evil, the regeneration 
of these countries might be accomplished almost 
without an effort. The expense, which has lately 
been so miserably employed in crushing the liberal 
institutions of Naples, would, under such circum- 
stances, have been sufficient to establish them in 
every part of the domains of Islamism. 



CHAPTER V. 

Germany, including Austria and Prussia. 

It is one of the anomalies in the political consti- 
tution of the German confederacy, that it compre- 
hends several powers, which are wholly independent 
in regard to the government of the greater part of 
their dominions; and have subjected only a small 
portion of them to the laws of the union. It would 
be worse than simplicity not to see, in this arrange- 
ment, a mere pretext for the interference of Eng- 
land, Austria, and Prussia in the affairs of Germany 



H7 

proper. These states are nominally members of 
the league, but really masters of it ; and the union, 
considered in distinction from the independent 
possessions of the principal members, can hardly 
be said to enjoy a real political existence. It is 
fortunate, therefore, for the interests of the smaller 
states, that its general operation is as feeble as it 
is unjust, and that it leaves the members, as sep- 
arate sovereignties, in possession of every thing 
essential to independenpe, either in form or sub- 
stance. The interval, that has elapsed since the 
peace of Paris, has been marked, in these states, 
by important and interesting events. It has been 
the epoch of the introduction of representative 
government. This important revolution has been 
effected without bloodshed or violence, under the 
influence of an enlightened public opinion and with 
the free consent of the sovereigns of these countries, 
some of whom have distinguished themselves by a 
truly liberal and magnanimous spirit. Such events 
are sufficiently curious to merit particular attention ; 
and as they had not, perhaps, at the time of their 
occurrence, the immediate notoriety which belongs 
almost exclusively to military tranactions, some 
notice of them, in detail, may not be wholly super- 
fluous. This will form the principal subject of the 
present section. As the history of the confederacy 



148 

is intimately connected with that of the separate 
governments, it will be necessary to commence by 
stating some of its principal joints. It is only in 
this part of the subject that I shall have occasion to 
touch upon the affairs of Austria, which has not 
been the theatre of any important domestic occur- 
rences. Those of Prussia will require particular 
attention, not only in their connexion with the 
League, but from the interesting nature of the pro- 
ceedings in that kingdom in regard to the new 
constitution, which has been so long in preparation 
and so frequently promised. 

At the close of the war, the principal powers of 
Europe and most of the inferior ones, fell, by the 
mere operation of the change of circumstances, into 
a settled and easy position. But there remained 
in the centre of this great body politic a mass of 
territorial and political interests, which, by the 
effect of repeated revolutions and counter revolu- 
tions, had been thrown at last into a state of com- 
plete chaos. The principal of these interests were 
those connected in different ways with the German 
states. To adjust them on the broad principles of 
natural justice might not have been extremely 
difficult ; but it was necessary to reconcile and 
satisfy, as far as possible, individual pretensions of 
the most various and opposite characters, infinite in 



149 

number and boundless in extent. There were the 
great states demanding indemnity and increase of 
power ; and the small ones insisting on security 
and independence. There were the secularized 
clergy and the mediatized nobles, clamouring for 
a restoration of their exclusive privileges and con- 
fiscated property, emperors obstinately refusing the 
hereditary right to be elected to that high dignity ; 
and electors bent upon resuming the right of choice, 
whether there were any body to be chosen or not;* 
there was a confusion of the greatest and the smallest 
interests requiring to be settled at the same time, 
a vast confederacy to be organized and the balance 
of power in Europe to be secured ; while the anti- 
chambers of the congress were besieged by the 
representatives of a thousand private concerns down 
to those of the very booksellers. Besides all these, 
and though last, it is to be hoped not considered 
as absolutely least in importance, was the interest 
of the people, the public good, which could not be 
wholly overlooked, though unfortunately it was 
found impossible to make it the first and principal 
object of attention. To introduce something like 
a principle of order into this scene of wild confusion 
was the most difficult task tliat devolved upon the 

* The elector of Hesse actually retained Ibis title ; and liis successoi' 
has, in like manner, assumed it at his fathei-'s dealh. 



150 

congress ; and the accomplishment of it, even to 
the imperfect extent to which it has been effected, 
was assisted very much if not wholly produced by 
accidental events. 

The holy Roman empire had disappeared, the 
emperor had abdicated his dignity ; and the confed- 
eration of the Rhine, which succeeded, had sunk 
into nothing. The first object, therefore, in regard 
to Germany was to fix upon some general principle 
of reorganization. Shall the states, into which it 
is divided, be left unconnected and independent ? 
If not, shall the old empire be restored, or shall a 
new general system be established ? If the latter, 
what shall be its principles ? and shall it resemble 
most nearly the constitution of the empire, or that 
of the Rhenish confederation ? Had these ques- 
tions been decided on grounds of mere expediency 
and regard to the public good, it would probably 
have appeared very clear, either that the idea of a 
general system should be entirely abandoned, or 
that the new government should be much more 
consolidated than either of the former leagues, 
A federal system, which acts merely upon the 
sovereign states, that compose it, and has no opera- 
tion upon individuals, has been ascertained by 
experience to be worse than useless. In proof of 
this remark, if its correctness were doubtful, might 



151 

be quoted the examples of the republic of the 
Netheilauds and of the old confederation of the 
United States of America ; but that of the German 
empire was still more striking than either, and was 
quite sufficient for the decision of the question. 
The only way, therefore, in which the new system 
could have been made really efficient would have 
been to establish a consolidated government, acting 
directly upon individuals, and exercising exclusively 
the functions of general sovereignty ; while the 
separate states retained their power merely for 
municipal purposes, as with us. The foundation 
of such a system in the centre of Europe, had it 
been possible, would have done more than any 
thing for the security of the public tranquillity. 
A confederacy of this kind, though strong for all 
useful objects, is, in its nature, pacific and unam- 
bitious ; and could not of itself have caused any 
alarm ; while it would have interposed the best 
barrier between the two great sections of the Euro- 
pean commonwealth, which, under the present 
arrangement will probably, sooner or later, come 
into collision. But the obstacles to the establish- 
ment of such a system were so great and obvious 
that it probably was not even suggested. It would 
have been necessary that all the great German 
powers should incorporate their whole dominions in 



152 

the union. Thirty or forty hereditary rulers must 
have surrendered the most important functions of 
sovereignty ; and what touches them much more 
nearly, its forms and titles. If the establishment 
of the present constitution in the United States 
encountered no small opposition from the offended 
pride of the states, it may easily be imagined what 
would be the resistance of these emperors, kings, 
and princes, the least of whom would think the 
order of the universe in danger, if he lost the 
bauble he calls his crown. The idea was wholly 
inadmissible, and in reality was never publicly 
suggested. 

The next best plan to this would have been to 
abandon the idea of a general system, at least as 
far as regarded the participation of Austria and 
Prussia. A union of the smaller powers might 
have still been advantageous ; and perhaps in this 
the plan of consolidation might not have been 
wholly impracticable ; but a league, into which 
Austria, Prussia, and Great Britain entered, 
whether for the whole or a part of their dominions, 
was, as far as it produced any effect at all, a mere 
subjugation of the smaller states under another 
name. Such a system would be vicious as re- 
garded them, precisely in the same degree in which 
it was good in itself: because the more efficient it 



153 

was, the more efficient an engine was in operation 
for the destruction of their political existence. This 
consideration was too obvious to have been over- 
looked by the great powers, had their views been 
steadily directed to the promotion of the public 
good. But there were other objects which touched 
them more nearly. Each of them naturally aimed, 
in the first place, to secure and augment, as far as 
it might be, its own political importance. Other 
and more general objects could only be treated in 
subordination to this. It was natural, therefore, 
that they should desire, without sacrificing their 
own independence, to secure a sort of political 
guardianship over the inferior German states. The 
establishment of such a system as would best 
promote this object and not the general tranquillity, 
nor the public good, was the problem to be solved 
in the settlement of Germany. The whole affair 
was another representation of the drama of the 
partition of Poland, in a more specious and plausi- 
ble shape. The interest of the inhabitants of these 
states, of the states themselves as sovereignties, and 
the public good were sacrificed to the ambition of 
the great powers. In order to effect the object 
they had in view, the first step was to organize a 
confederacy. This measure was accordingly re- 
solved upon previously to the treaty of Paris, and i$ 
20 



154 

stipulated by one of its articles. The next step, on 
the part of the great powers, was to reserve by their 
own act the complete independence of the greater 
proportion of their dominions, while only a smaller 
section of them was incorporated in the league. 
Having thus virtually retired from the union for 
the purpose of obedience, while they entered it 
for that of authority, their third and last object was 
to extend that authority as much as possible, by 
increasing, as far as they could, the efficiency of 
the union. Of these three objects the first and 
second were obtained without difficulty, and with- 
out consultation with the smaller powers. Their 
success in the third depended upon the form in 
which the details of the confederacy should be 
arranged. This business had been referred to the 
congress of Vienna. The smaller members of the 
union naturally insisted upon expressing their opin- 
ions, and at this point the great powers met with 
serious and effectual opposition. 

The arrangement in detail of the forms of the 
union, the establishment'of which had been resolved 
upon at Paris, was undertaken at the congress by 
the five royal powers, viz. Austria, Prussia, Great 
Britain in the name of Hanover, which was erected 
into a kingdom for this purpose, Bavaria, and 
WUrtemberg. None of the other states, which 



155 

were to compose the league, were allowed to con- 
cur in the deliberations upon the subject. In this 
way the great powers secured a majority of voices 
in the council, which would otherwise have been 
against them ; but the interest of the smaller ones 
was powerfully supported by Bavaria and Wiirtem- 
berg, which belonged to this party. Through the 
whole of the discussions, the language of the three 
great powers displayed a singular and most edify- 
ing liberality. The establishment of representative 
constitutions, and the guarantee of individual rights 
by the confederation were the topics upon which they 
principally insisted. The plans of union presented 
by Prussia contemplated the complete security to 
every German of his personal rights, including 
specially the liberty of the press. " Hanover," 
said count Miinster, " can never admit that princes 
have despotic rights over their subjects ; or that 
the states composing the late confederation of the 
Rhine, obtained by that union rights over their 
subjects, which they did not possess before." Prince 
Metternich himself caught the infection of liber- 
ality and observed, that in modern times nobody 
pretended to claim despotic power ; although it 
would perhaps require rather a nice distinction 
between despotic and unlimited governments, to 
exclude the Austrian empire from the former cate- 



156 

^orj. With equal zeal tliey urged the adoption ot 
representative constitutions under the guarantee 
of the union. These propositions were excellent 
in themselves ; but as they formed rather an extra- 
ordinary contrast with the habitual policy of the 
powers that presented them ; and as these powers, 
especially Austria, showed no disposition to extend 
the great benefits, which were to result from their 
adoption, to their own subjects, the smaller states 
naturally looked upon them with suspicion. Timea 
Danaos. In fact it required less sagacity than is 
generally exercised by states and individuals in 
securing their immediate interest, to perceive that 
the guarantee of individual rights and of repre- 
sentative constitutions by the union, had no other 
political operation, except to augment the influence 
of the great powers, who had withdrawn from the 
union for every purpose but this, over the smaller 
ones. The latter accordingly opposed these propo- 
sitions with vigor and perseverance. This opposi- 
tion cannot be attributed to a want of liberality in 
the governments of the smaller states ; because 
they have since, of their own accord, introduced at 
home representative "constitutions of a highly liberal 
character; while the great partisans of liberal 
institutions at the congress have carefully abstained 
from acting upon their own propositions, even to 



151 

the limited extent in which they were finally 
adopted. The great powers also urged the adop- 
tion of an efficient judiciary system, to decide 
between the members of the union, and give it 
more efficacy and consolidation. This proposition 
was good in itself, but was objectionable on the 
same ground as the others, and was in conse- 
quence resisted. They even went so far as to 
propose a prohibition on the members of the union 
to make or conclude treaties ; but this idea was 
found so unpalatable, that it was not much insisted 
on. The pretensions of the conflicting parties 
were urged on both sides with heat and violence. 
The great powers were probably determined to 
carry their points at last by main force, if they 
could not do it in any other way ; and the smaller 
ones to resist every argument but that of the bay- 
onet. After two or three months of fruitless 
attempts at negotiation the subject was abandoned 
for the time ; and the king of WLirtemberg, the 
most active member of the party of the small states, 
quitted Vienna in disgust and returned to his capi- 
tal. Meanwhile the inferior states, which had 
been excluded from the royal council, had not 
been inactive. They had formed an association of 
their own, including powers no less respectable 
than the grand Duke of Luxemburg, king of the 



158 

Netherlands, and the grand Duke of Baden, with 
thirty or forty others of various degrees of im- 
portance. This association was continually impor- 
tuning the royal council for permission to concur 
ill the deliberations upon this subject ; and as 
constantly received the answer, that the period had 
not yet arrived in which their assistance would be 
useful. Thus, in addition to other subjects of 
contention, the affairs of Germany alone had nearly 
led to a new war, when the occurrence of a fortu- 
nate accident smothered every difficulty and settled 
the conflicting claims in a moment. This event 
was no other than the return of Bonaparte from 
Elba ; and it is to his khid assistance that the 
Germans are indebted for their present confed- 
eracy ; as it was under his patronage that the 
sovereigns were able to make head against th© 
French revolution. The arrival of this great 
•pacificator put a new face at once upon the state 
of the negotiations. The association of the infe- 
rior powers were informed immediately, that the 
period had arrived in which their presence in the 
royal council would be useful. The propositions 
most obnoxious to the smaller states were aban- 
doned entirely. The subjects of individual rights, 
of representative constitutions, and of the judiciary 
\\ ere settled substantially in accordance with theii* 



159 

views ; and the whole business was closed before 
the battle of Waterloo. The king of Wiirtemberg 
alone held out some time longer, but finally came 
in upon the same terms as the rest. 

Such were the circumstances, under which the 
German confederacy was organised; and it might 
be remarked of this constitution with truth, as was 
said so unjustly of our own by a distinguished states- 
man, then labouring under the influence of false 
theories and groundless terrors, that it was born a 
cripple. In fact, the comparatively short period, 
during which it has been in operation, has fully 
proved, both its utter inefficacy for any useful object, 
and the dictatorial ascendancy which it gives to the 
great powers over the small ones. From the time 
when the diet commenced its session, till the meet- 
ing of ministers at Carlsbad, although a press of the 
most important business was of course before this 
assembly at the first settlement of an entirely new 
government, it had done absolutely nothing. The 
subject first taken up, which was the military or- 
ganization of the confederacy, was still upon the 
tapis, and no considerable progress had been made 
in it. At this period, it was thought necessary by 
the greater powers to employ the diet as an engine, 
for imposing the most odious restrictions upon the 
personal rights of the smaller ones ; and in domg 



160 

this, they did not deem it inipoitant to save to the 
diet even the appearance of independence. The 
resolutions, which the assembly was to sanction, 
were in reality not even submitted to its considera- 
tion. The subjects were discussed, and the decisions 
were taken at Carlsbad. In order to give them a 
binding force, as laws of the union, it was necessary 
that they should be voted in the diet. They were 
accordingly proposed by the minister of Austria, the 
permanent president of this assembly, and agreed to 
unanimously the same day ; the diet thus conde- 
scending to act the part of the parliaments of France 
under the old regime, without even exhibiting the 
reluctance, which was generally found in that body 
to register unjust and obnoxious edicts. Thus the 
German congress, which had slept at its post for 
about four years at a very critical epoch, and not 
effected a single object, now prostrated the liberty of 
the press through the whole confederation, withdrew 
political offenders from their natural judges, and 
subjected them to an inquisitorial tribunal at Mentz, 
and established an inspection over all the universi- 
ties, besides other regulations of still more permanent 
importance, though of not so much immediate inter- 
est, in a single day. After this extraordinary despatch 
of business, the members probably assisted with a 
good relish at the banquet given the same evening, 



161 

by the minister president in celebration of their 
achievements. The celerity, with which these affairs 
were settled, could only be paralleled by the singular 
vagueness of the authority, under w hich the diet 
pretended to act ; the provision which was supposed 
to confer it being the second article of the act of 
confederation, which corresponds with the preamble 
of our constitution, and states in general terms, that 
the object of the union is to promote the public 
good.* Fatigued with so unusual an effort, the diet 
immediately relapsed into its former inactivity, and 
will probably remain in the same quiescent state, 
until Austria shall present another edict to be regis- 
tered. 

Now ray weary lips I close ; 
Leave me, leave me to repose. 

If the general constitution of the German con- 
federacy is far from being an agreeable subject of 
observation to the friends of liberty and good gov- 
ernment, there is something proportionally pleasant, 
in the contemplation of the new political institutions 
of the separate members of the union. Representa- 
tive constitutions are now established in all the 
states, excepting one or two of the smallest, and the 

* The second article, m ex/enso, is as follows : The object of this con- 
federacy is to maintain the security of Germany from within and witlityi; 
and the independence and inviolabiliiy of the several states. 

21 



162 

two most important, Austria and Prussia. These 
constitutions resemble each other for the most part 
in their details ; and though it might be easy to point 
out many particulars, in which their forms could be 
improved, their practical operation has shewn, that 
they are all animated by the real spirit of represent- 
ative government. Where this is the case, forms 
are in a great measure indifferent. The publicity 
of the operations of government, one of the greatest 
advantages of the representative over other forms, is 
completely secured in all, excepting that of Hanover, 
where the proceedings in the states general are not 
public. This exception is rather remarkable, con- 
sidering that the constitution of Hanover was or- 
ganized by the government, which has long been 
regarded as the most liberal in Europe. The fact 
would seem to argue, that there is some discordance 
between the spirit of the British constitution, and 
that of the British ministry. I shall add a few 
remarks upon the most considerable of these new 
governments, according to the order of time in which 
they were established. 

In consequence of the resistance of the smaller 
powers to the guarantee of representative constitu- 
tions by the confederacy, the article which was finally 
adopted was couched in the most general terms, and 
really bound the members to nothing. It may be 



163 

translated literally as follows : k constitution of states 
willjind a place in every part of the utiion, [hi alien 
Bundes-Staaten wird eine landstilndische Verfassung 
Statt finden.~\ The simple future form, will find a 
place, [loird Statt finden,'] had been substituted at the 
special instance of the Bavarian ministers for the 
imperative phraseology, shall be established, [soil 
bestehen,'] which was employed in the first draught ; 
and this reform in the language of the article pre- 
cluded of itself all idea of obligation. Besides this, 
the phrase, constitution of states, is so vague, that it 
may be made to mean any thing ; and although the 
states of the country [landstmide'^ is the term em- 
ployed in Germany to designate the representation 
of the people under the new constitutions, it was 
also the name of the feudal assemblies of ancient 
times. Accordingly the Austrian government have 
considered the obligation of the article, whatever it 
might be, as satisfied in regard to such of their do- 
minions as form a part of the union, by the existence 
of the feudal estates, which are still continued, and 
which assemble only one day in the year for the 
purpose of registering the financial edicts of the 
ministry. It is evident, therefore, that whatever 
was done in favour of liberal political institutions 
was the result of the free will of the sovereigns or 
of the influence of public opinion, and not a com- 



164 

pliance with the requisitions of the act of confedera- 
cy. This idea is still more fully confirmed by the 
fact, that the governments, wiiich had opjDosed this 
article at the congress, were the first to establish 
representative constitutions, and that those who had 
urged it most warmly have taken no steps whatever 
for this purpose. 

1. The king of Bavaria, as early as the year 1808, 
had reformed the administration of his dominions, 
and had given a public promise to introduce a rep- 
resentative assembly. To suj)pose, as some have 
done, that his opposition in regard to this subject at 
the congress arose from a disinclination to popular 
government, would be to place him in contradiction 
with the whole of his preceding, as well as his sub- 
sequent conduct. In fact, count Montgelas, the 
minister, who had enjoyed the king's confidence 
ever since the commencement of his reign, and, till 
very lately, was at the head of the administration, 
was a statesman of acknowledged liberality ; and 
the great object of his policy had uniformly been to 
accommodate the institutions of the country to the 
modern improvements in political science. Among 
other proofs of this spirit may be mentioned the 
encouragement given to our illustrious countryman, 
count Rumford. This minister, however, had been 
charged with being under French influence during 



165 

the reign of Bonaparte, probably on no better ground, 
than that the political interest of Bavaria coincided 
at the time with that of France ; as it also did before 
the revolution, and must always do whenever France 
possesses her proper weight in the European balance 
of power. Under this pretext, but really on account 
of the liberality of his political principles, Mr de 
Montgelas became obnoxious to the German aris- 
tocracy after the fall of Napoleon ; and they exerted 
their influence against him with the king. In con- 
sequence of this circumstance, he was not employed 
at the congress of Vienna, although he had been 
named for that business, but was replaced by Gen. 
Wrede ; and subsequently to the congress he has 
wholly retired from the administration of public 
affairs, but is still said to enjoy the king's personal 
confidence. The coincidence in time of the retire- 
ment of this minister, and of the publication of the 
constitution, induced some persons, who were prob- 
ably unacquainted with his character, to suppose 
that he had been averse to this measure, and that 
his retirement was the signal of the prevalence of 
constitutional opinions in the cabinet. But this 
supposition is contradicted by the whole tenor of his 
policy ; and, although the immediate causes of his 
retirement are not known, yet, as he is understood 
to retain his influence with the king, there is every 



166 

reason to suppose that it was unconnected with this 
subject, and that the constitution is in reality his 
work, or that of his political friends in the cabinet. 
However this may be, it is certain that the prep- 
arations for the introduction of a representative 
government, which had been interrupted by political 
events, were resumed in 1814; and on the 26th of 
May 1818 the constitution was published by a royal 
proclamation. The parliament, according to this 
constitution, is composed of two houses. The first 
comprehends the princes of the royal family, the 
great officers of state, the two archbishops, one 
bishop named by the king, and the president of the 
protestant consistory for the time being ; all of whom 
are members by virtue of their functions and official 
character. Besides these, the mediatised nobles 
holding estates in Bavaria are entitled to an heredi- 
tary seat in this chamber, and the king may give a 
personal or hereditary right to the same privilege to 
such other individuals as he may think proper, under 
s-ome restrictions. The members of the iirst chamber 
are called ' counsellors of the realm :' \_ReichsnUhe.'\ 
The second chamber is composed of deputies from 
the body of the people in the ratio of one to 7000 
families ; and they are allotted to the different classes 
of society in the following proportion : one quarter 
to the privileged or noble proprietors, and the clergy 



167 

of the two religions ; one quarter to the cities and 
market towns ; and the other half to the proprietors 
in general. The three universities send one member 
each. The deputies from the cities are named by 
the municipal authorities ; and those from the coun- 
try by the judicial and other magistrates, under 
various restrictions, and with the observation of 
complicated forms. This system is far from cor- ^ 
responding in theory with the idea of a real repre- 
sentative government ; but its practical operation 
has shewn that the house of deputies, thus chosen, 
is animated by a truly popular spirit, and this exam- 
ple tends with others to establish the principle, that 
forms of election are in a great measure indifferent. 
The assembly of the chambers was opened on the 
1st of January 1819. On that day was heard for 
the first time, at least for several centuries past, 
within the limits of Germany the sound of public 
debate upon legislative measures. The house of 
deputies was true to its mission, and supported the 
popular cause with great zeal and ability. The 
deputies from the universities distinguished them- 
selves particularly by the liberality of their opinions, 
as well as by superior talents and eloquence : the 
German universities in general being, as is well 
known, not less remarkable for their attachment to 
popular principles, than the British have always 



168 

been for determined loyalty. The sounds of econo- 
my and retrenchment, seldom very pleasing to royal 
and princely ears, were pronounced with distinct- 
ness and energy. Reforms in the military depart- 
ment were more especially insisted on ; and after 
the discussions upon these subjects had continued 
for three or four months, the chambers were finally 
prorogued by the government in no very agreeable 
temper, and before any considerable portion of the 
business had been despatched. As the regular as- 
sembly of the states happens, according to the con- 
stitution, only once in three years, there has been 
no meeting since. The aristocratic party is very 
powerful in Bavaria, as in all the rest of Germany, 
and was ready to profit by any imprudence or excess 
of zeal in the popular leaders ; and in these discus- 
sions it is not improbable that the latter, for want of 
experience in the management of business, may have 
fallen into some errors. It would lead me too far 
too undertake an examination in detail of the points 
in dispute. It does not appear, however, that the 
disposition of the government to uphold the constitu- 
tion has been diminished, by this rather unfavourable 
result of the first trial of it. It is understood, on the 
contrary, that in the ministerial conferences at 
Vienna, the great German powers urged very strong- 
ly the adoption of certain modifications of the con- 



169 

stitutions already established : among which would 
probably have been a prohibition to publish the de- 
bates in the house of deputies : but that the Bavarian 
government, as well as those of Baden and Wiirtem- 
berg, resisted the proposal with firmness and effect. 
In consequence of this and some other circumstances, 
it is highly probable that the next session of the 
Bavarian states, at the beginning of the year 1822, 
will pass off with greater harmony and success, than 
the first. 

2. The grand duke of Baden was the next of the 
German sovereigns, that granted to his subjects a 
representative constitution. He appears to have 
been determined to take this step in part by acci- 
dental circumstances, although it would be unjust 
not to recognize in the general tenor of his proceed- 
ings undoubted proofs of a really liberal spirit. Upon 
the accession of Bavaria to the great alliance in 1813, 
the Austrian territories, which had been incorporated 
into that kingdom, were reclaimed ; but as the as- 
sistance of Bavaria, the most considerable of the 
secondary German states, was regarded as of great 
importance, at a moment when the final result of the 
struggle was still doubtful, it was stipulated by 
Austria in a separate treaty, and the stipulation was 
afterwards guarantied by all the powers, that Bavaria 
should receive a complete indemnity for the losses 



170 

thus sustained, in territory contiguous to her own. 
The territory was also Sj3ecifical!y designated, 
and belonged for the most part to the grand duke of 
Baden ; who had not yet come into the alliance, 
and who, from his family connexion with Napoleon, 
had been drawn into intimate relations with him, 
and was considered as more attached to his policy, 
than any other German prince. Besides the cession 
of some other portions of Baden, it was agreed that, 
upon the extinction of the direct grand ducal line, 
which was expected to happen shortly, the palatinate 
should revert immediately to Bavaria. The grand 
duke of Baden had not been consulted in regard to 
these arrangements ; and his dominions were thus 
disposed of without his consent, although he, like 
the rest of the German princes, acceded shortly 
after to the alliance. Upon the general settlement 
of claims, the king of Bavaria, who had been 
obliged to satisfy at once the demands of his im- 
perial neighbour, called loudly for his indemni- 
ties from Baden ; and the grand duke of Baden 
complained as loudly of the infraction of public 
law and justice, not to say brotherly kindness, in 
this disposition of his dominions without his knowl- 
edge. A public correspondence passed between 
these distinguished brothers, in which the duke 
appeals to the equity and affection of the king, and 



171 

the king replies in substance, that equity and affec- 
tion have no concern with matters of state. As 
this remark, practically speaking, is pretty well 
founded, it is not likely that either of these topics 
would have greatly assisted the grand duke's argu- 
ment ; but fortunately for him, he had a second 
brother in the north, commanding a peace estab- 
lishment of 800,000 bayonets, and who was conse- 
quently in a situation to urge in his favour the only 
considerations, which, in these matters, are of 
great and acknowledged importance. Under the 
influence of the emperor of Russia, the grand duke 
of Baden's dominions were protected from dismem- 
berment, and the claim of Bavaria for indemnity 
was referred to the territorial commission then 
sitting at Frankfort. This commission afterwards 
made a proposition to Bavaria, which was rejected 
as unsatisfactory, and the claim was then annulled. 
Such was the termination of this affair, which 
illustrates, very curiously, several important points 
in the present state of European politics. 

Meanwhile the grand duke of Baden, during the 
progress of the negotiations, was employing such 
means as appeared suitable to consolidate his 
dominions and confirm the tenure, by which he 
held them. To provide against the eventual failure 
of the direct ducal line, he published, in 1817, an 



172 

edict, by which he called to the succession his 
uncles, the counts of Hochberg, a collateral and 
hardlj^ legitimate branch of the reigning family. 
He had already, in the course of the preceding 
year, made a public promise to his subjects of a 
representative government, partly, no doubt, with 
a vie\v of gaining their affections and interesting 
them in his cause ; and on the 22d of March 1818, 
he actually published the present constitution, 
which formally guarantied the new settlement of 
the succession. The validity of this settlement 
would, however, probably have been contested by 
the great states ; but the powerful support of the 
emperor of Russia smothered all difficulties ; and 
the new constitution, including the settlement, was 
accepted and guarantied by the diet. The grand 
duke actually died the same year, and the collateral 
line succeeded without opposition. These were 
the auspices under which the representative system 
was introduced in Baden. 

The constitution resembles, in its general con- 
struction, that of Bavaria, but in some important 
points, is more favourable to popular rights, espe- 
cially in the extension given to the elective fran- 
chise. Every individual of mature age is entitled 
to vote in the choice of deputies. The first meet- 
ing of the chambers was held in 1819. The house 



173 

of deputies exhibited the same independent and 
truly popular character as in Bavaria ; and the 
government, offended at the zeal with w'hich they 
laboured to introduce more economy in the admin- 
istration, closed the session suddenly in the midst 
of their labours, and before they had even finished 
the settlement of the finances. In a really consti- 
tutional government, such a measure would have 
brought the machine of state to a stand, as the 
taxes, not having been voted in the chamber, could 
not be legally collected. But the executive author- 
ity supplied this defect by an arbitrary extension of 
its proper functions, and the taxes were contin- 
ued by an edict on the same footing as before. By 
a still more extraordinary assumption of authority, 
an order was issued at the time of the prorogation, 
prohibiting the deputies from holding any commu- 
nication with their constituents. Another session 
has, however, been holden since, in which a better 
union prevailed among the several branches of the 
administration ; and the government exhibited, at 
the ministerial conferences at Vienna, so strong an 
attachment to the constitution, that it has probably 
conciliated still further the good Avill of the people. 
3. It was reserved for Wiirtemberg after long 
preliminary struggles to give the example of a more 
cordial union between the people and the govern- 



174 

ment, both in the adoption of a constitution and in 
the first trial of it, than had been shewn before in 
Germany. .'This country had, as is well known, 
maintained in a more perfect form than any other 
in Europe, excepting England, its ancient consti- 
tutions. However vicious in theory, they were yet 
preferable to the despotism which had succeeded to 
them elsewhere, and served as an organ for the 
expression of sounder political ideas, than those to 
which they owed their own existence. When the 
duchy was erected into a kingdom and augmented 
by the addition of considerable territories, governed 
in a different way, the ancient constitutions were 
suppressed, and a simple monarchy substituted for 
tliem. Arbitrary power w^as then the order of the 
day. But after the fall of Napoleon, the star of 
liberal ideas was, for a short time, lord of the as- 
cendant even in the cabinets. The king of Wiir- 
temburg yielded to its influence with the rest ; and 
he also felt with the other smaller German states, 
the necessity of strengthening his authority at home, 
and of placing himself and his dominions, as much 
as possible, under the protection of public opinion 
for security against the predominance of the great 
powers. He accordingly assembled the states of 
the kingdom in 1815, and laid before them a consti- 
tution, bottomed on the political notions of the day. 



175 

This experiment met with small success. As the 
British parliament, in the time of Charles II, after 
its convocation had been omitted for a. number of 
years, only brought to its next meeting a more 
determined resolution to assert the rights of the 
people and bridle the royal prerogative ; so the 
states of Wurtcmberg, disgusted at the late arbi- 
trary suppression of their privileges, were but little 
disposed to accept even favours from so obnoxious 
a quarter. The constitution was treated as a 
disguised attack U])on their ancient institutions. 
They did not choose to receive, as a royal grant, the 
liberties which they conceived themselves to possess 
by hereditary and prescriptive right. They de- 
manded, on the contrary, a recognition of these 
rights by the government, and contended that what- 
ever reforms might be necessary in the constitution, 
should be the result of an agreement between the 
government and the states. On the other hand, 
the mediatized nobles, whose dominions had been 
incorporated with Wiirtemberg, had pretensions of 
a different kind, equally at variance with the prin- 
ciples of the new constitution and of the old estates. 
Such were the embarrassments which attended the 
first proposal of the constitution. After struggling 
with them for some time, the government aban- 



176 

doiied their plan and granted, in twelve articles, an 
acknowledgment of the ancient rights of the states. 
At this epoch the late king died, and the present 
sovereign succeeded under auspices somewhat more 
favourable for the accomplishment of the work in 
hand. He was in the first place free from the odi- 
um, which had attached itself to his father, on 
account of his arbitrary invasion of the national 
rights ; and he was even absolutely popular from 
having in the late struggles espoused the party 
opposed to the court. It is also but justice to 
observe of the king of Wiirtemberg, that throughout 
his whole proceedings he has shewn at once a 
sincere and honest attachment to the cause of lib- 
erty and a manly elevation of sentiment, which is 
far from being universal with hereditary rulers. 
He immediately entered upon the unfinished enter- 
prise of the constitution ; but such were the essen- 
tial difficulties that attended it, and the bitterness 
which had grown out of the late dissensions, that 
his efforts w^ere not at first more successful than 
those of his father. The twelve articles were 
expanded into another constitution, which was 
presented to the states ; and as these articles had 
been considered as the triumph of the opposition 
party, it was probably supposed, that a constitution 
founded upon them would be looked upon as a 



177 

compromise, or as an instrument agreed upon in 
common. This result did not happen. The states 
adhered to their idea, that the reform must be ac- 
complished by consultation between themselves 
and the government, and manifested a violent oppo- 
sition to the new proposal. The king persisted, 
and after the struggle had been carried on for some 
time with heat and violence, demanded a categor- 
ical answer in eight days. The decision then given 
was in the negative, and the second constitution 
was rejected by a large majority ; after which the 
states were dissolved. It may be remarked, that 
the deputies of the commons acted in these disputes 
in unison with those of the higher orders, consid- 
ering themselves as equally interested in the secu- 
rity of their ancient franchises, although their 
standing under the proposed constitution was 
probably much more favourable, than under the 
old system. Conscious of the purity of his inten- 
tions and of the sincerity of his attachment to the 
public liberty, the king determined to appeal from 
the decision of the states, and to consult the public 
w ill in a different form of expression. The con- 
stitution was submitted to the people in primary 
assemblies; and, strange as it may seem, it was 
again rejected. It is impossible not to recognise 
in these occurrences the existence of a degree of 
23 



178 

irritation, which had in a great measure blinded the 
people to the real nature of the controversy. Every 
thing they contended for and more was offered 
them ; but in the heat of party spirit they over- 
looked the important object in dispute, which was 
held out to them by the government, and attached 
themselves exclusively and fanatically to an inci- 
dental point of form. 

After the failure of this attempt, nothing further 
was done respecting the constitution for three or 
four years. The government was probably dis- 
gusted with this pertinacious and unreasonable 
resistance ; and at any rate must have deemed it 
expedient to allow some time for the existing agi- 
tation to subside. Meanwhile the cabinet of 
Wiirtemberg was publicly known to be the most 
liberal of the German governments. At the diet 
of Frankfort, in all its negotiations wath the other 
powers, its policy was uniformly of this character, 
a circumstance which could not fail to conciliate 
the good will of the people, and to remove the 
feelings of heat and irritation which attended the 
late discussions. In the year 1818-19 there 
appeared in Germany a degree of popular dis- 
content on political subjects, and a disposition was 
manifested in consequence by the greater powers to 
restrict, for the present, the establishment of any 



179 

more representative governments. The fear that 
such a resolution might be adopted probably 
hastened the period, at which the last successful 
attempt to form a constitution was made in Wiir- 
temberg, and doubtless contributed in some degree 
to smooth the difficulties that had before opposed it. 
Nothing tends so strongly to conciliate opposing 
parties, as the apprehension of an attack from a 
common enemy. A new assembly of the states 
was summoned early in 1819; and the government, 
with equal magnanimity and good judgment, 
avoided at once the principal obstacle by yielding 
the point in dispute, which was in reality a mere 
matter of form. It was agreed that commissioners 
should be appointed by the king on one side, and 
by the states on the other, to form a constitution. 
The concession of the government w as received 
by the states with a corresponding spirit of good 
temper and conciliation ; and the only difficulty of 
importance being thus removed, the arrangement 
of the constitution itself was comparatively an easy 
task. Both parties were equally anxious to lose 
no time, as the ministers were then assembled ; 
and every day might bring a prohibition of any 
further proceedings, which it would have been 
inconvenient to neglect. Under these circumstan- 
ces, the business advanced with a very different 



180 

sort of despatch from that which had appeared on 
the former occasions ; and before the ministerial 
meeting had been brought to a close, the Consti- 
tutional Co?itract, [Verfassnngsvertrag,'] between 
the king and the people of Wlirtemberg had been 
solemnly agreed upon, signed, and ratified by both 
parties. I have been informed, whether correctly 
or not I cannot affirm with certainty, that a reso- 
lution was adopted at Carlsbad, which enjoined 
upon the king not to proceed any farther in a 
business of such dangerous example, and that the 
king, receiving information that such a step would 
probably be taken, pressed the conclusion of the 
contract with still more earnestness, and took the 
necessary precautions in the meantime to avoid 
receiving official notice of any such measure, till 
the affair should be finally settled. 

However this may be, this first constitution, 
which ever appeared in a monarchical country in 
the avowed shape of a socicd contract, was received 
by the friends of liberty in Germany and Europe 
with general applause. This point of form is the 
only circumstance, in which it differs very materi- 
ally from the other German constitutions. The 
states general are composed of two houses, organ- 
ized in substance on the same plan as in Bavaria. 
The first session of this assembly passed off upon 



]81 

ihe whole with great harmony, and was lately 
closed by the king with a most liberal and patri- 
otic address, in which he expresses the highest 
satisfaction at the successful issue of their common 
efforts for the public good. There was, however, 
one remarkable circumstance attending the first 
trial of the new constitution in Wurtemberg, which 
did not occur either in Bavaria or Baden. The 
first chamber of the states general is composed, in 
a great measure, of the mediatized nobles, who art^ 
all angry and uneasy at the loss of their privileges, 
and in this unpleasant frame of mind naturally look 
with still more jealousy and dislike, than they 
otherwise would, upon the new^ constitutions. In 
Wurtemberg, where they are numerous and power- 
ful, they have refused to take part in the proceed- 
ings ; and although they are invested by the con- 
stitution with the character of members of the first 
chamber, they have generally declined to accept this 
quality, and accordingly did not attend the session 
of the states.. In consequence of their absence, a 
quorum of the upper house could not be obtained. 
This case, having been anticipated, was provided 
for by an article in the constitution, which declares, 
that if either house docs not attend in sufficient 
numbers to debate separately, the members present 
may sit with the other : and that the acts thus 



182 

passed shall have the same force, as if adopted in 
both. Thus the resistance of the nobles has ^iven 
the constitution of Wiirtemburg a still more demo- 
cratic character, than it had before, by reducing the 
states general in practice to a single deliberative 
assembly. 

Such is the general outline of the proceedings in 
the three most considerable of the German states, 
which have adopted constitutions. That of Hano- 
ver is regarded as a mere pageant, and has excited 
neither interest nor attention. Liberal constitutions 
have been adopted in most of the smaller German 
states ; and the proceedings in almost all these, 
though comparatively unimportant, are very curi- 
ous, as well from the inherent interest attached to 
the subject, as from the great variety of accidental 
aspects, under which it presents itself in the several 
cases. The want of room makes it necessary to 
pass them over without notice. The proceedings 
in Prussia have naturally attracted more general 
regard, as well from the superior importance of that 
kingdom in the European commonwealth, as from 
the singular inconsistency and vacillation of the 
policy of the cabinet upon this subject. It may be 
proper, therefore, to treat this matter somewhat 
more in detail. 



183 

4. There is no part of Europe, in which the con- 
trast is greater between the form of the government 
and the state of society, than in Prussia, especially 
the middle and western provinces, which are the 
most considerable, wealthy, and populous divisions 
of the monarchy. The government is a military 
despotism of the purest and most unlimited kind. 
Some changes have lately been introduced in this 
respect, as I shall have occasion to mention ; but 
speaking of Prussia, as it existed in the time of 
Frederic the Great, and since, till within the last 
ten years, there was not a single intermediate insti- 
tution, municipal, provincial, or political, between 
the king and his subjects. It does not appear that 
there was even a council of state. Every act of 
the government emanated from the mere motion 
and personal good pleasure of one individual. 
There was also no established religion in Prussia, 
an institution, which, in some forms of arbitrary 
governments, as in Turkey, is supposed, perhaps 
erroneously, to act as a check upon the monarch 
and a protector of the people. A general toleration 
of religions had been introduced by the 'hardy 
philosophy of Frederic, at a period when this 
doctrine was not so readily admitted as it is now, 
but no sect had any connexion whatever with the 
government. Nevertheless the kingdom of Prussia 



184 

was among the most industrious and populous, and, 
bj a natural consequence, the most wealthy and 
enlightened countries in Europe. None have 
rendered more essential service to the cause of 
truth and learning, than the protestant parts of 
Germany, of which Prussia forms the most ex- 
tensive, and has been, in this respect, one of the 
most active sections. From this quarter proceeded 
the reformers of Christianity, and the less brilliant, 
though laborious and useful restorers of ancient 
literature. At a later period we find these countries 
taking a high stand in polite learning ; and found- 
ing a new school of fine writing in poetry and 
prose, at a time, when the rest of Europe had 
passed in this department the period of production. 
Here too arose at the same epoch a new universal 
philosophy, more remarkable from the strong sensa- 
tion it excited, and the important effects it occa- 
sioned, than any that has appeared since the time 
of x\ristotle ; although the works of its author, 
like those of the Stagyrite, are deformed by errors, 
and clouded with obscurity. These countries, in 
short,' have long been among the foci of European 
civilization, while the government has preserved 
the forms, that are commonly regarded as suitable 
to a people in the lowest state of barbarism. 



185 

The acquiescence of the nation in tliis state of 
things may be accounted for in part by the pow- 
erful ascendancy of the personal character of the 
great Frederic, who was himself the living repre- 
sentative and personification of all the })hilosophy 
and literature of his time ; and whose long and 
brilliant reign occurred precisely at the period 
when this dissonance of form and substance might, 
under other circumstaces, have begun to be re- 
marked. Where by a sort of miracle the despot is 
the wisest and best man in his dominions, despotism 
solves, better than any other imaginable form, the 
great problem of government, and few will be 
found to complain of it. This very fact proves 
the essential vice of the system, since the good it 
produces only happens by exception, and thus 
demonstrates the falsehoood of the general rule. 
Besides this circumstance, it may be observed of 
Prussia and of many other continental states, that the 
forms of administration are not, as in wholly inde- 
pendent countries, a mere product and indication of 
the state of society, but are a compound result of 
this cause, and of the influence of foreign powers, 
in which civilization Is perhaps at a very different 
point. In the western or Rhenish provinces, which 
were mostly annexed to Prussia by the congress of 
Vienna, the constrast I have pointed out ^vas still 
24 



186 

more remarkable. These provinces were, in other 
respects, equally civilized and enlightened with 
the rest, and had besides, for twenty or thirty years 
before, been either actually or virtually under the 
government of France ; which, in compensation for 
other grievances, still more grinding and oppressive 
for the moment, had relieved them from antiquated 
abuses, and had introduced new and highly im- 
proved forms of administration and of justice ; and 
a code of laws accommodated to the spirit of the 
age. 

But before this annexation and during the period 
of depression, which followed the disastrous struggle 
of 1806, a disposition in favour of political reform 
began to exhibit itself in the Prussian cabinet. 
The French revolution having assumed the shape 
of military despotism, it was natural enough that 
legitimate sovereigns should look with more com- 
placency upon liberal ideas. They also found it 
necessary, in mere self-defence, to increase their 
resources and strengthen their influence in some 
way or other. Ancient forms had been found 
ineffectual, and something else must of course be 
adopted. In this emergency, the new political ideas 
presented themselves as a resource. They were 
recommended by their popularity, and under the 
circumstances their intrinsic justice was more dis- 



187 

tinctly felt. The monarchy had hitherto leaned 
for support upon the titled classes, and had now 
found this pillar of the state crumbling into dust. 
Something else must be had to supply the place, 
and where could aid be looked for but among the 
people ? Community of misfortune, the natural 
source of mutual kindness and sympathy, had 
created a bond of union among the different classes 
of the state. The insolence of the aristocracy 
was humbled into temporary meekness, and the 
people looked witli pity instead of hatred upon 
their fallen oppressors. The royal family had 
always been popular, for the glory of the illustrious 
Frederic spreads a sort of traditional brightness 
over the nothingness of his successors ; and to this 
popularity was now added the interest resulting 
from the personal qualities of the queen, the most 
beautiful and interesting woman in her dominions, 
uniting with all the charms and graces that adorned 
the queen of France, the domestic virtues which 
that unhappy princess was accused, perhaps un- 
justly, of not possessing, and as highminded as a 
Roman matron ; for she afterwards literally died of 
grief at the disasters of her country and the insults 
heaped upon her person and family by Bonaparte. 
Such a vision, exhibited in the brilliant light of 
royalty, could not fail to be viewed with deep 



188 

interest by so civilized and feeiing a nation. There 
prevailed, therefore, through the country a general 
spirit of harmony ; and measures of all kinds, ordi- 
nary and extraordinary, were resorted to under its 
iniluence, or were adopted to incourage it. It was 
tlien that the League of Virtue [Tugeiidbund] was 
founded, of which the queen was the patroness, 
and which became so conspicuous in the last 
struggle with the power of France. Many im- 
portant improvements in administration were intro- 
duced, corresponding with her principles and 
feelings ; and especially after the appointment of 
baron now prince Hardenberg to the post of prime 
minister with the title of chancellor. Some late 
political writers in Germany have regarded these 
measures as the result of a premeditated scheme in 
this minister to introduce a representative govern- 
ment, and have sui)posed that they were intended as 
an accommodation of the state of society and pro- 
perty to such a system. But supposing the chan- 
cellor to have had this idea, it was probably more the 
result of the circumstances of the times, than of a 
conviction on general grounds of the necessity of 
improvement ; and therefore does not argue quite 
so strongly as these writers seems to imagine in 
frtvour of the probability of the ultimate establish- 
ment of a constitution in Prussia, since the circum- 



189 

stances which then existed have changed, and have 
been succeeded by others, whose immediate influ- 
ence is of a contrary description. 

However this may be, several important inno- 
vations were effected in the interval between the 
campaign, which ended with the battle of Jena, and 
the fall of Bonaparte. The experience of that 
disastj'ous war sufficiently proved that the nobility, 
although they monopolized the offices in the army, 
had not obtained, with their titles, the hereditary 
possession of military science, and that they were 
quite unable to cope with the plebeian warriors of 
France. The first of the improvements in question 
was probably the result of this experience ; and 
consisted in breaking down the monopoly of mili- 
tary offices established by Frederic in favour of the 
nobles, and throwing open all ranks in the army 
equally to all classes of the people. This was done 
in 1807. Not long after, the abolhion of corporal 
punishment was obtained, though with great diffi- 
culty ; and in 1813 the new military system was 
completed by the extension of the dutv of military 
service to all the subjects. By these different 
regulations, the barrier, which before separated 
the army from the people, ^vas removed ; the 
nation took the form of a political society defended 
bv citizen soldiers : and the armv was converted 



190 

from a fighting machine into a mass of highminded 
and patriotic men. These were large steps in the 
march of improvement ; they were accompanied by 
others still more considerable. 

In 1808 a system of municipal administration 
was introduced under the direction of Baion Stein. 
It was founded in popplar principles, and gives to 
the cities the privilege of regulating independently 
their separate interests. This was at once a 
measure of great utility and a good preparation for 
important political improvements in future. The 
success of our own revolution, as far at least as 
it depended on the exertions of New England, has 
been ascribed, in a considerable degree, by the best 
informed judges, to the excellent municipal organi- 
zation, which exists in that part of the United 
States. The appointment of prince Hardenberg to 
the post of chancellor in 1809 was followed by 
still bolder measures. On the 27th of October 
1810, an edict was signed by the king, abolishing 
the exemption from taxes hitherto enjoyed by the 
nobility, and providing for a general survey and 
valuation of estates. Three daj's after, another 
edict was signed, which confiscated all ecclesiastical 
property for the good of the state, and appropriated 
it to the payment of the public debt. A third edict 
was signed on the second of November of the same 



191 

year, which abolished all monopolies and appren- 
ticeships in trades, and gave to every citizen the 
liberty of exercising his industry in the way he 
may think proper. Thus, says a late German 
WTiter,* had the Prussian cabinet, in six days, ad- 
vanced as far in the career of political improvement, 
as the national assembly of France had done in 
two years. It may be remarked, that the assembly 
was not at the time accused of inactivity. The 
rapidity of this march is therefore, as Benzenberg 
justly observes, a strong proof how extensive has 
been the circulation of the ideas on which these 
measures are founded within the last thirty years, 
and how thoroughly they have penetrated into the 
whole frame of society. After six days of such 
momentous achievement the prince chancellor 
reposed from his labours till the 14th of September 
1811, when an edict was signed, still more remark- 
able, perhaps, than any of the preceding, which 
gives to the villains or serfs, upon their surren- 
dering to the lords a third or a half of the land 
they hold at will, a fee simple in the rest. By this 
regulation, an entire class of the community, which 

^ Die VerwaUung des Slaalskanalers. Furslen von Hardenberg — ' An 
Essay on the administration of the chancellor of state, prince Harden- 
berg.' The work was published anonymously: but has since been. 
avo"id Iiy pvofc'^snr Benxcnberg of Daseeldorf. 



192 

was, till now, wholly destitute of personal rights, 
is presented with the opportunity of obtaining not 
only relief from oppression and nominal freedom, 
but real independence in the possessien of property. 
To close at once the account of what has actually 
been done for the political organization of Prussia, 
it may be added, that at a later period, to wit, 
1816, a new division of the kingdom was intro- 
duced, by which it is distributed into ten provinces, 
twenty eight government circles, and three hundred 
forty live provincial circles ; and that in 1817 the 
council of state was established, consisting of the 
princes of the blood royal, the ministers, presidents 
of courts of justice, military governors of provinces, 
and such other persons as the king may name. 
Such are the improvements which have actually 
been effected. Before I proceed to consider what 
steps have been taken for a farther prosecution of 
this system, it may not be uninteresting to cast a 
glance upon the practical operation of the edict of 
1811 in favour of the peasants, as described by 
the intelligent German writer, whom I just now 
quoted. 

In the western or Rhenish provinces of Prussia, 
personal servitude and the feudal distribution of 
land had long before been abolished by the govern- 
ment of France ; and it is only upon the middle 



193 

and eastern provinces, to wit, Prussia proper, Sile- 
sia, Pomerania and the mark of Brandenburg, that 
the new system has any operation. In all these 
countries the land was possessed in large estates by 
the nobility ; and the peasantry had neither property 
nor personal rights. They held at will such por- 
tions of the land as the lord chose to assign them, 
upon which they built their habitations in the form 
of a little village, and which they cultivated for 
themselves ; performing, at the same time for their 
lords, such agricultural and other labours, as were 
imposed upon them. The lord administered justice 
and exercised most of the rights of sovereignty upon 
his estate, this system having grown up at a time 
when there was but little consistency in the supe- 
rior territorial governments. In Pomerania there 
were 763 of these estates, of which 136 were 
worth from 60 to 40,000 Rix dollars; 74 from 
40 to 30,000; 123 from 30 to 20,000, and 430 
under 20,000. Of the 455 square miles, which the 
province contains, these estates comprehend 260 ; 
of the rest, 150 were occupied by the cities and 
royal domains, 40 by royal and other public forests, 
and 5 only were left for the free farmers. Of the 
260 square miles occupied by the noble proprietors, 
it was calculated that 156 were improved for the 
benelit of the lands, and 104 assigned to the peasant- 
25 



194 

rj. The peasantry then, by surrendering to the 
lords one half or one third of this latter portion, 
obtain a freehold in the remainder ; so that, by the 
operation of this edict, the amount of land, belong- 
ing to the independent farmers in Pomerania, will 
be increased from five square miles to sixty or 
seventy. This aup;mentation will give the peasan- 
try all the room to extend their industry and popu- 
lation, which, for the present, they can desire or 
could employ. As their numbers and wealth 
increase, they will naturally overstep this limit and 
will not only recover by purchase the land they 
surrendered, but will probably extend their acqui- 
sitions much farther. The land, as this writer 
justly observes, is most valuable to those, who culti- 
vate it themselves ; and it is the natural result of a 
free circulation of property, that every article falls 
into the hands of those who can improve it best and 
make it most productive, because they can afford 
to pay more for it than any body else. 

In the mark of Brandenburg there were 1200 of 
these lordships belonging to about 700 noble fami- 
lies ; and to these, and the royal domains together, 
were attached about 78,600 families of serfs. 
These, by the operation of the new system, may- 
all be expected to become freeholders. There 
were also 44,000 other families on these estates, 



195 

who had no connexion whatever with the land, 
but who may also be expected to acquire property, 
now that the land has become an article of com- 
merce. And on this supposition the number of 
independent cultivators in Brandenburg will in- 
crease, in the course of ten or twenty years, from 
3143 families, the number at which it stood before, 
to 125,000. Such arc the calculations of this 
author in regard to the operation of the edict of 
September 1811. They are given with a minute- 
ness, that supposes accuracy, and apparently with- 
out enthusiasm. 1 have not had the opportunity, 
nor if I had, should I have thought it necessary for 
the preseent purpose, to investigate their correct- 
ness in detail. Supposing the facts to be more or 
less incorrectly stated, or the anticipated results to 
be more or less overcharged, it will still be suffi- 
ciently evident, that the general operation of the 
new system is to convert the agricultural population 
of Prussia from personal slaves into independent 
freeholders. Its general effect must in consequence 
be a great increase of industry, wealth, and popu- 
lation. Such a system does infinite honour to the 
statesman who planned and introduced it. He has 
been denounced for it, it seems by the aristocracy, 
as a Jacobin ; but this is a reproach which every 
upright politician at the present day must expect 



196 

to encounter. The friends of liberty and impartial 
posterity will respect him as the benefactor of his 
country. It is but justice to one who has actually 
done so much for liberal principles, to put a favour- 
able construction upon such parts of his adminis- 
tration, as wear a doubtful aspect; and it must be 
confessed that his proceedings, in regard to the 
estsblishment of a representative constitution, re- 
quire to be so interpreted, in order to appear con- 
sistent in their spirit, with the measures I have been 
describing. 

The liberal spirit which generally prevailed in 
Prussia, in consequence of the circumstances which 
have been mentioned, previously to the last cam- 
paigns, was greatly heightened and extended by 
the zeal with which every class of the nation then 
co-operated in the great work of independence. 
The Prussians appear to have made themselves 
more obnoxious to the French than any other 
})ortion of the allied forces, probably for the very 
reason, that they were more enthusiastic in the 
cause, and consequently animated by a more intense 
hostility against the nation which had oppressed 
them. An impartial observer, instead of hating 
them for it, must view on the contrary with delight 
and sympathy this noble development of the most 
generous feelings in the best of causes. At the 



197 

close of the war the government seems to have felt 
the propriety of rewarding these patriotic exertions 
by the establisliment of a representative constitu- 
tion ; and never, surely, had this magnificent boon 
been granted, would the loftiest deserts have been 
more fitly and fully recompensed. On the 22d of 
May 1815, an edict was published, commanding 
that a constitution should be drawn up, in which 
provision should be made for a representation of 
the people ; and ordering that deputies, from all the 
provinces, should assemble on the first of Septem- 
ber of the same year to deliberate with commis- 
sioners, named by the king, upon the formation of 
this important instrument. This is the celebrated 
promise, the breach of which has been the subject 
of so much commentary and reprehension. The 
arrangement contemplated, as appears from its terms, 
was the preparation of a constitution on the most 
liberal model, to wit, as has since been done in 
Wiirtemberg, in the form of a social contract to be 
agreed upon by common consent between the 
deputies of the government and those of the people. 
It may be mentioned as a further proof of the hom- 
age then paid by the cabinet to public opinion, that 
the celebrated Goethe, the literary idol of the Ger- 
mans, now venerable for his great age as well as 
his illustrious name in poetry, was designated as 



198 

the person who was to hold the pen upon this great 
national occasion. At the same moment that the 
edict was issued, the Prussian cabinet was urging 
at Vienna the adoption of representative constitu- 
tions in the German states ; and from the combined 
effect of these various circumstances, there remained 
no doubt whatever in the public mind of the 
sincerity of their intentions or of the immediate 
performance of the promise. 

But the summer passed away and no commis- 
sioners were named by the king ; the first of Sep- 
tember arrived and brought with it no deputation 
from the provinces. There arose, on the contrary 
at Berlin, an unprofitable contest of parties and 
pamphlets. By dint of sophistry and passion, it 
was found possible to obscure the clearest truths 
and to corrupt the best feelings. The aristocracy 
urged the danger of popular excesses, if a liberal 
constitution should be adopted ; and their sugges- 
tions were backed by the influence of foreign 
powers, who were blowing cold upon representative 
government at Berlin, while they were blowing hot 
in favour of it at Vienna. And the influence of for- 
eign powers means a very different thing among the 
contiguous continental states, from its import with 
us or even in England. Another party cherished 
the idea of a military monarchy, as the system 



199 

under which Prussia had risen to its present great- 
ness. They were apprehensive, that, by changing 
the constitution, they should destroy the instrument 
of all their past and possible future augmentation of 
power. A third party, consisting of the fanatical 
and exclusive partisans of every thing German, 
while they desired a new constitution, detested the 
modern political ideas, because they had been de- 
veloped in France. They were continually dwell- 
ing upon the glories of the middle ages, when, 
according to them, the civilization of Europe had 
attained the point of perfection, from which it has 
been ever since upon the decline. " Which of us," 
says one of them, " would not wish to possess the 
simple energy, the piety, and the sincerity of the 
noble heroes and heroines of the Nibelungen Lied, 
(a .collection of ancient poems, the scenes of which 
are laid in the ninth and tenth centuries;) who 
would not willingly return to those intellectual 
flower-gardens, which supplied the garlands of 
roses, that entwine the window-casements of the 
Gothic cathedral at Cologne ?" The most active 
supporters of these opinions had also been among 
the most ardent and determined enemies of the 
French ; and the system, notwithstanding its radi- 
cal absurdity, was, perhaps at the moment, more 
popular in Germany than any other. The general 



200 

result of this conflict of views and interests at Ber - 
lin, seems to have been a determination in the 
cabinet that the consitution could not, with safety, 
be introduced iiAmediately, and that it must be 
established u])on the basis of the political institu- 
tions, which had formerly existed in the several 
provinces under the name of Estates^ but which 
had, for some time, fallen into disuse. 

The expediency of connecting new political 
institutions as much as possible with those that 
already exist is too obvious to escape the attention 
of any sound politician. But there seems to be a 
singular inconsistency in attempting to draw out, 
under this pretext, the mouldering relics of ancient 
usages from the graves, where they have been de- 
posited for centuries. This is merely a wanton 
augmentation of the essential difficulty attending all 
political reforms. In this particular case the 
restoration of the feudal institutions was not only 
inexpedient, but on other accounts impossible. In 
the Rhenish provinces, the aristocratic families, 
which, about the middle of the 17th century, had 
arrogated to themselves the right of holding the 
assembly of estates, and voting the taxes, W'hile 
they left to the commons the exclusive privilege of 
paying them, these families in the course of time 
and by the various revolutions which have lately 



201 

occurred, had lost their property and mostly become 
extinct. In some provinces, we are told that the 
feudal assembly of estates, if restored, must hine 
been held by a single person. In the eastern 
division of the monarchy, the aristocracy composed 
exclusively the ancient estates, as they also held at 
that time all the property ; but the basis of this 
system had been shaken, as I have shewn before, 
by the new system of legislation ; and could not be 
revived, at least without the abolition of the edict 
of September 1811. The revival of the feudal 
states being then physically impossible, it would 
have been necessary, in order to found the consti- 
tution upon an historical basis, (this was the favour- 
ite phrase,) to go back to a period anterior to the 
comparatively recent one at which these states 
assumed their last modification, a period in which 
the spirit if not the form of the political usages 
coincided much more nearly with the notions of 
the present day, than with those of the 15th and 
16th centuries. It is important, says Madame de 
Stael with great justice, to remind those who are 
continually appealing to antiquity in support of the 
doctrine of despotism, that the ancient usage was 
liberty, and that privilege is the modern invention. 
In fact it was a universal right of all freemen, 
through the several branches of the great German 
26 



202 

race in ancient times, to assemble in the camps* of 
March and May to deliberate upon public affairs. 
At the present day, such assemblies would be too 
large for despatch of business, and it would be 
necessary to substitute the principle of deputation 
for that of personal appearance, and this is pre- 
cisely the modern system of representative govern- 
ment. 

The impossibility of founding a new government 
upon the basis of the feudal institutions, must have 
been perceived by the commissioners who had been 
sent out by the Prussian cabinet to examine, upon 
the spot, the usages of the several provinces ; and 
the idea has probably been abandoned. Mean- 
while the delay occasioned by these researches 
created, of itself, an additional obstacle, as it con- 
tributed, probably more than any other cause, to 
excite the sort of popular fermentation that arose in 
Germany at the close of the year 1817; and at 
which the governments either were or affected to 
be very greatly alarmed. This fermentation, no 
doubt, wore a more serious aspect than it other- 

* Marzlager and Mailager : In the French language the word champ 
has taken the place of camp in the translation of these terms, apparently 
by an accidental equivoque; and the great assemblies, at the commence- 
ment of the revolution and during the hundred days, intended as a re- 
vival or rather dramatic representation of the ancient usages of the 
Franks, were called the Fields of March and May, instead of the Camps. 



203 

wise would have done, from the simuhaneous exhi- 
bition of uneasiness in England, France, and Spain. 
If the transactions in Germany are considered 
separately, it is difficult to imagine any thing in 
the shape of popular discontent more perfectly 
innocent. 

The scene of these pretended rebellious proceed- 
ings was laid from first to last among the students 
in the universities, and their instructers ; nor has it 
been proved or even, that I am aware of, pretended, 
that any other class of persons took any part in them 
whatever. An active interference by students in the 
administration of the government is sufficiently im- 
proper ; but it is equally clear that it could never be 
productive of danger to the public tranquillity ; and 
in this case, as it was the result of a previous state 
of things, which had been brought about by the act 
of the government, the parties concerned were en- 
titled to every indulgence, and the most favourable 
constructions of their motives. In fact the students 
at the universities had been invited by their instruc- 
ters, and by the public authorities, to enter the army 
as volunteers during the late struggles. They had 
yielded to the call with all the ardour that belongs 
to their period of life, had shared without shrinking 
in the dangers and fatigues of the war, and had given 
in general the highest satisfaction by their good 



204 

conduct and strict observance of discipline, as well 
as by their courage. At the close of the war they 
returned again to the shades of tlie academy ; but 
at a time of life when men act under the influence 
of habit and feeling, rather than reason, it was not 
to be expected that they should lose at once all their 
interest in public affairs, or should refrain entirely 
from displaying it. On the contrary, it was far from 
being unnatural, that they should rather push it to a 
fanatical extent ; and as they had been called upon 
to risk their lives for the public, should conceive that 
their advice and opinions might also be worth atten- 
tion. Such in fact was the effect produced. The 
students of the universities embraced with ardour 
the pure Teutonic party, to which I have alluded, 
and which was supported with eloquence and zeal 
in various publications by many of the professors. 
In their detestation of every thing foreign, they even 
condemned the European dress, as an innovation 
upon the ancient customs of Germany ; and assumed 
almost universally a sort of uniform, supposed to 
resemble more nearly the dress, which was worn by 
their forefathers some centuries ago. In all this 
there was a great deal of exaggeration ; but their 
leading political tenet was sound and excellent. 
The union of Germany was proclaimed as the object 
of their exertions ; and in this particular the Nestors 



205 

at llie congress might with great profit have; taken 
counsel from these beardless politicians. In order 
to contribute within the sphere of their own activity 
to the accomplishment of this end, they entered into 
a general league, called the Teutonic Association., 
which comprehended the great majority of the stu- 
dents at all the universities. The first public inti- 
mation given of the existence of this institution seems 
to have been the meeting of deputies from all the 
branches at the castle of Wartburg, in Saxony, on 
the 18th of October 1817, to celebrate the anniver- 
sary of the battle of Leipsic. The discourses and 
proceedings at this assembly are said to have been in 
some degrefe disorderly ; bat the choice of the day, 
upon which it was held, sufficiently explained the 
spirit, which was operating, and proved it to be the 
result of the excitement produced among the students 
by their participation in the late campaigns. This 
circumstance alone might have prevented any un- 
easiness upon the subject in the minds of the sove- 
reigns. The assembly, moreover, wr.s small. 

It appears, however, on the contrary, that these 
proceedings attracted very strongly the attention of 
the governments, and were looked upon as highly 
important and alarming. At the congress of Aix- 
la-chapelle, which was hoklen t!ie following Sep- 
tember, thev were taken into consideration ; and a 



206 

memoir was written upon the subject by Mr de 
Stourdza, a counsellor of state in the Russian service, 
of Greek extraction. It seems that this pamphlet 
was not intended for general circulation, and great 
precautions were taken to prevent it from being 
made public. Fifty copies only were printed for the 
use of the congress ; and while the work was going 
through the press, a picket of soldiers was stationed 
in the printing office, under the direction of a Rus- 
sian counsellor of state, to see that no more were 
struck off. Notwithstanding these precautions, the 
work appeared at Paris, a few weeks after, in two 
or three languages ; and more perhaps from the 
mystery that enveloped its production, than for any 
thing very remarkable in its contents, it excited a 
high degree of attention in Germany ; although it 
does not seem to have been much heard of elsewhere. 
It was a short essay, in about thirty pages octavo, 
upon the state of the universities, and was in no way 
remarkable, either in point of thought or style. 
But the students and professors felt themselves highly 
piqued at this interference of a foreigner in their 
affairs. Innumerable replies were published in the 
shape of reviews, pamphlets, and newspaper. articles; 
and, to make the refutation more complete, the au- 
thor was invited by some of the students to decide the 
merits of the quarrel in the old Teutonic way — by 



207 

duel. The counsellor declined this polite request, 
on the ground that he had drawn up the pamphlet 
at the instance of his imperial master, and was not 
personally responsible for its contents. This ex- 
planation, which was not wholly free from indis- 
cretion, gave still more importance and interest to 
the pamphlet, as it established the fact, which was 
only suspected before, that the emperor Alexander 
was the real author. The war of words was renewed 
with additional fury. The universities were natur- 
ally amply furnished with literary champions ; and 
it may well be supposed, that a work written under 
the dictation of an emperor would also find apolo- 
gists, whatever might be its merits. One of the 
principal of these was Kotzebue, who then published 
a literary journal, and was known to be a political 
agent of Russia. It was the part he took in this 
quarrel, which turned upon him a large share of 
the exasperation created by this attack upon the 
universities, and which consequently led to his as- 
sassination. This lamentable catastrophe, resulting 
from political fanaticism, exalted to insanity in the 
mind of a young and melancholy enthusiast, rather 
tended to establish the purity and correctness of the 
principles of its author, than their falsehood ; for no 
sentiments, but those of a generous and elevated 
kind, ever have led or ever can lead to excesses of 



208 

this description. The first effect of the dominion 
of selfish and vicious motives in the mind is to subdue 
the glow of sentiment, to substitute calculation for 
illusion, and method for madness. Enthusiasm 
supposes of necessity sincere and virtuous intentions, 
although it is compatible, as every day's experience 
too plainly shows, with the most atrocious actions. 
The act, however, was well fitted to raise still 
higher the alarm of the governments, as it did. The 
conferences at Carlsbad were held soon after, and 
the public were informed, that a vast and dangerous 
conspiracy had been discovered against all the Ger- 
man sovereigns. Persons were arrested and papers 
were seized ; but although two years have now 
passed since these events, none of the supposed 
oifenders have yet been proved to be guilty, nor has 
any satisfactory evidence been given to the public of 
the reality of the pretended plot. Some selections 
were ofiicially published by the Prussian government 
from the papers, which had been seized, consisting 
of the correspondence of students at the academies 
and colleges. There were passages sufiiciently ob- 
jectionable ; but nothing that either looked like con- 
spiracy, or, considering the cpjarter from which the 
whole proceeded, was worth a moment's attention ; 
and, as the object of the government was to justify 
the violence of their proceedings, they probably 



209 

published the worst they found. There is every 
reason to suppose, that the pretended conspiracy 
was nothing more than the general association, I 
have mentioned, among the students of the several 
universities. 

The alarm created by these popular discontents 
was supposed, however, to have had great influence 
in delaying the introduction of representative gov- 
ernment in Prussia, and was certainly employed as 
a pretext to justify the delay. But while these 
proceedings were in progress, the cabinet had still 
given some indication of a disposition to persevere 
in the business. On the 31st of March 1817, the 
council of state was organized, and at the same time 
a commission was actually named to prepare a con- 
stitution ; but no steps were taken for carrying the 
plan into immediate effect ; so that it is uncertain 
whether the chancellor had any other design in ap- 
pointing the commissioners, than merely to satisfy the 
public, that he was still intent upon this object. If 
this was his view, it may well be doubted how far 
the measure was politic. If circumstances rendered 
it inexpedient to fulfil at present the engagement 
that had been made, the better way would have 
been to permit the expectations of the people to die 
away entirely, until the period when it was found 
convenient to gratify them. The chancellor seems, 
27 



210 

on the contrary, through the whole of these proceed- 
ings, to have studiously kept alive the public anxiety 
by continual intimations that the affair was in pro- 
gress, and that the government was -sincere ; while, 
at the same time, the pretexts used to justify the 
delay were, as has been seen, of a frivolous and 
insufficient character. Besides the encouragement 
given by the appointment of the commissioners, the 
language held by this minister in his conversation 
with the deputies from the Rhenish provinces, who 
were sent to compliment him upon a visit, which he 
made to that country at the beginning of the year 
1818, was highly constitutional. A printed report 
of this conversation was published by professor 
Goerres, who was at the head of this deputation, 
and has since acquired notoriety by the persecutions 
he has sufliered from the Prussian government ; and 
it seems, from this report, that the principles ad- 
vanced by the chancellor were even much more 
truly liberal, than those of the deputation ; the latter 
being infected with the false and fanatical enthusiasm 
for the institutions of the middle ages, to which I 
have already adverted ; while the former maintained 
in their purity the liberal political notions of the 
present day. About the same time, viz. on the 5th 
of February 1818, a note was presented to the diet, 
by the Prussian minister, stating the circumstances 



211 

which had hitherto prevented the introduction of 
the proposed constitution in Prussia, and intimating 
strongly that it would certainly be done within a 
year. This succession of contradictory measures, 
this promising without performance, and delaying 
without denial, this giving with one hand and 
taking back with the other, seems to argue, what 
was probably the fact, and has indeed been estab- 
lished very fully by subsequent events, that there 
had been, through the whole of this period, a strug- 
gle of parties in the cabinet, and that the anti- 
constitutional interest was strong enough to defeat 
the immediate accomplishment of the object; that 
the chancellor himself was really determined upon 
the measure, and thought it expedient; on this 
account, to keep up the expectations of the people, 
while, at the same time, he could not venture to 
risk his influence in the cabinet, by pressing it too 
much against a powerful opposition. 

The general result of all that had been said and 
done relating to the subject, was a prevalent opin- 
ion about the middle of the year 1819, that the 
constitution was nearly or quite ready for the royal 
signature, and that it would be published on the 
king's birth day, which was the 3d of August, 
Instead of this, it was precisely at this period that 
tjje meeting of ministers was held at Carlsbad, and 



212 

the pretended conspiracy announced at Berlin. 
At the close of the same year a change took place 
in the Prussian cabinet, by the removal of the three 
minsters, who had been generally supposed to be 
the most earnest in favour of the constitution. One 
of these was the distinguished statesman and 
scholar, Baron William Humboldt, the brother of 
the celebrated traveller. This ministerial revolu- 
tion at once confirmed the opinion that had been 
entertained of an existing struggle in the cabinet, 
and crushed for the time the hopes of the consti- 
tutional party. But the chancellor had hardly 
taken this apparently decisive step, when, faithful 
to the system of double dealing which has con- 
stantly been pursued in regard to this subject, he 
began to hold out fresh encouragement. In the 
edict for the regulation of the finances, signed on 
the 17th of January 1820, almost immediately 
after the removal of the three liberal ministers, the 
estates of the kingdom are mentioned as an existing 
institution, and certain functions are assigned to 
them in the superintendence of the finances. And 
two months later, a letter, written by the chan- 
cellor to a private correspondent, was published in 
the newspapers, in w hich he remarks, " that the 
public ought to put a better construction upon the 
deliberate course which the government had pur- 



213 

sued, and that the constitution would be established 
agreeably to the promise which had been given, 
and especially to the original edict of the 22d of 
May 1815." This is the last occurrence of a pub- 
lic nature in relation to this affair. Since the time 
when it took place, the Prussian government has 
been wholly employed in concert with other powers 
in abolishing the liberal institutions at Naples — no 
very favourable omen of their immediate introduc- 
tion at home. The final consequences of all these 
contradictory proceedings will depend perhaps upon 
chance, and the turn that may be taken by the 
general politics of Europe. 

Such are the principal facts, that serve to illus- 
trate the present state and immediate future pros- 
pects of Germany, in regard to the introduction of 
representative government. From the remarks 
which have been made upon this subject, and upon 
the present form of the confederacy, it will be 
perceived, that even the complete and general 
establishment of this system will supply a very 
inadequate remedy to the defects of the existing 
institutions, without a more intimate union and 
consolidation of the several states. Independently 
of the burdens laid upon the country for the sup- 
port of a multitude of separate governments, all in 
a monarchical and of course an expensive form, the 



214 

mode, in which these taxes are levied, imposes a 
most vexatious and ruinous restraint upon industry 
and commerce. In the most populous part of 
Germany, the merchant is met at every few leagues, 
with a fresh line of custom houses. Let him travel 
by land or water, every second or third day brings 
him into a new sovereignty, which must be 
acknowledged by the payment of new tolls and 
duties. No lawful and honest trade can flourish 
under such oppression, and the necessary conse- 
quence of it is, an extensive contraband traffic, the 
decline of industry at home, and the general im- 
poverishment of the country. The minor states 
are now deliberating together by deputation upon 
this subject ; and are endeavouring to digest a plan 
for the abolition of all duties upon internal com- 
merce. The liberal governments, in the south of 
Germany, are understood to be at the head of the 
attempt ; and their object is, if possible, to clear 
the way of these pernicious barriers by land and 
water, from Switzerland to the ocean. The vast 
benefit that would result from this, to every indi- 
vidual and every nation affected by it, is obvious at 
a glance. But the ignorance and jealousy of some 
of the cabinets will, in all probability, prevent the 
accomplishment of this design. As the merchants 
descend the Rhine, their way is barred by Prussia, 



215 

a state sufficiently important to imagine that she 
has an interest in oppressing her inferiors ; and as 
they approach the sea, they meet with Great 
Britain by two or three diflferent names, waging 
under all a war of extermination with the industry 
of every country but her own, under the mistaken 
notion, that an idle and wretched community is a 
better customer, than an industrious and wealthy 
one. It can hardly be hoped that this truly liberal 
and patriotic effort will succeed to any considerable 
extent. The only mode of effecting the object is, 
by a closer political consolidation of the several 
governments. But the reasons of state that oppose 
this measure are too powerful to be overcome, by 
the spontaneous action of any internal force. The 
convulsions of the last thirty years have done much 
in this respect for Germany, having reduced the 
numbers of independent sovereignties from three or 
four hundred to between thirty and forty. The 
jealousies existing among these remaining powers, 
and the baneful intermeddling of foreigners, will 
prevent the reform from going any farther at 
present ; and the country must wait for its deliv- 
erance till the arrival of another general concussion 
of the political fabric of Europe. 

The institutions which determine the situation 
of private property and personal rights, and which 



216 

lonii the most interesting and important feature in 
the constitutions of all countries, are extremely 
various in different parts of Germany, especially if 
we include, under this general head, all the domin- 
ions of the house of Austria. In the eastern part 
of this vast region, in Hungary and Bohemia, and 
most of the Austrian possessions, personal servitude 
still exists. The territory of Hungary, with a 
population of 8,000,000, is owned almost exclu- 
sively by about 60,000 noble families, and inhab- 
ited principally by boors attached to the soil. 
These, however, with the few free citizens who 
are not noble, pay the taxes, the lords being ex- 
empt from this obligation. In Bohemia this state 
of things exists in substance ; but industry has made 
greater progress, and the class of free citizens is 
more numerous. In Silesia personal servitude was 
abolished in 1807. It was supposed that the 
French would take this step, and the Prussian cab- 
inet made haste to anticipate them, in order to 
obtain the credit of it ; which, considering the 
motives of both parties, could not be very great for 
either. The general state of property, in the several 
provinces of Prussia, has been mentioned before. 
In the kingdom of Wiirtemberg, personal servitude 
is expressly abolished by an article of the new con- 
stitution : and in most of the southern and western 



217 

parts of Germany, it has, in a great measure, disap- 
peared. In the Rhenish provinces of Prussia and 
the other countries, where the French code was 
introduced, the equal distribution of estates among 
all the children was introduced with it. In the 
other parts of Germany, the land generally descends 
to the eldest son on feudal principles. Other 
property follows the rule of the Roman law, and is 
divided. 

Every where in this country, there is a great and 
pernicious inequality of personal rights ; even where 
the servitude of the peasants, the most revolting 
feature in the system, has been abolished. The 
German aristocracy is not, like that of France and 
England, an institution almost wholly nominal. 
Its members monopolize, on the contrary, most of 
the property, and all the political employments and 
social consideration. The contrary plan of general 
freedom, equality of legal rights, and the admissi- 
bility of citizens of all classes to all employments, 
is gradually gaining favour, and in some of the 
states, is now established by law ; but even in 
these, the spirit of it does not yet seem to predom- 
inate. The monopoly of social distinctions, pre- 
scriptively possessed in Germany by the titled 
classes, has given them an insufferable arrogance, 
which does not belong to the nobles in some other 
28 



218 

parts of Europe, at least in nearly the same degree. 
A German baron, in the pride of his two and thirty 
quarters, considers the most virtuous and enlight- 
ened man in Europe as a being of inferior species. 
In England and France, on the contrary, the 
hereditary nobles have learned, by experience, the 
superiority of elevated personal qualities over the 
accidents of social position ; and have been com- 
pelled, in self-defence, to act upon the conviction ; 
and to court the power which would otherwise 
crush them. Even the French emigrants, in prin- 
ciple perhaps the most bigotted portion of the 
European aristocracy, are obliged to place in their 
front ranks such superior minds, as they can seduce 
from the party of the people. This will also be 
the case in Germany, if the representative system 
obtains the ascendancy. Wherever it prevails, the 
first political distinctions and the considerations 
they confer, must belong to talent and character, 
for no other powers can wield this mighty machine 
to the profit of any party. It is one of the advan- 
tages of this sort of government, that, although it 
may not be always administered with justice, it 
must be, in general, with ability. 

The necessary consequence of this discordance 
between the existing institutions and the state of 
society in all the civilized parts of Germany, has 



219 

been a strong expression of public opinion in favour 
of reform ; not proceeding, as in England, from the 
lowest class of the people, headed by factious dem- 
agogues ; but from the enlightened, the wealthy, 
and the respectable. This opinion finds an active 
and zealous representative in the literary profession, 
which is more numerous and industrious here than 
any where else, and which is almost wholly in the 
liberal interest. The universities, as I have had 
occasion to observe before, are so many centrical 
points of popular principles and feelings. The 
governments seem to have had the simplicity to 
suppose that they could keep down the expression 
of this spirit, by appointing a sort of diplomatic 
agent or official inspection to reside at each univer- 
sity. A better way would have been to take the 
universities into their own hands and to endow the 
professorships with large revenues, independent of 
the merit or exertions of the incumbent. In this 
way the seditious zeal of these establishments 
would soon have been allayed ; although it must 
also be admitted, that their literary preeminence 
would have probably disappeared with it. As 
loyalty came in at one door, activity, and with it 
philosophy and literature, would have gone out at 
the other; and the professors would have soon 
become, like those of Oxford and Cambridge, 



220 

excellent subjects, but very lazy and indifferent 
thinkers and writers. As the demand for Claret 
and Madeira increased at the universities, the sup- 
ply from that quarter of deep thoughts and fine 
imaginations would have proportionally fallen off; 
and this is precisely what the sovereigns want ; if 
we may be allowed to judge from the emperor of 
Austria's address to the professors at Lay bach. 
* To tempt by making rich not making poor,' 
would have therefore been the course pursued by 
these potentates, had they possessed the acuteness 
of a certain distinguished politician ; and until they 
conclude to adopt it, it is hardly probable that they 
will succeed in their object. Can it be necessary 
to repeat, at the present day, that persecution gives 
importance and publicity to opinions, right or 
wrong, whether political or religious, instead of 
suppressing them ? Necessary it is, for there is 
not a government in Europe which does not 
act habitually as if the reverse were true ; and yet, 
as a general rule, the principle is so universally 
admitted, that it has become trivial. The doctors 
are all of one mind, and the disciples are all of 
another ; as Gamaliel of old was teaching toleration 
in the Sanhedrim, while Saul, who was brought 
up at his feet, was breathing out threatenings and 
slaughter against the christians in the city. The 



221 

excess to wliich this system of persecution has 
been carried, in some instances, is truly revolting. 
Thus De Wette, a most learned and liberal theolog - 
ical professor at Berlin, has been deprived of his 
place, that is, of his means of subsistence, at an 
advanced age, for writing a letter to a private cor- 
respondent, which was never published, till it was 
printed by the government to justify the proceed- 
insf. This was a letter of consolation to the mother 
of the unhappy Sand ; it was unobjectionable in its 
tenor, and in reality had nothing whatever to do 
with politics. It was intended to relieve the agony 
of her distress by assuring her, that the motives of 
her son were pure, and that the morality of the act 
he had done must be judged of upon this ground 
only. The principle of morals, here supposed, is 
so far from being doubtful, that it is quite common 
place ; and if the public application of it to this act 
were inexpedient, De Wette was not less innocent, 
for his letter was wholly private. The contents of 
it were discovered by the iniquitous measure of 
opening it in the post-office, and it was with great 
difficulty that a copy of it could be obtained to be 
used against him. The forms of tiie Spanish inqui- 
sition may have been more brutal ; but there was 
nothing in the spirit of it more outrageous than this. 
This is the system which brought Algernon Sydney 



222 

to the scaffold, and James II to exile and beggary ; 
and if it does not reduce those who now act upon 
it to the same condition, they will have to thank 
their foreign allies for their safety. 

Conscious that their institutions are incapable of 
resisting the force of public opinion fully and freely 
expressed, the great German powers have estab- 
lished, throughout their dominions, the most rigid 
restrictions upon the liberty of the press, and by an 
arbitrary stretch of influence have compelled the 
small states to adopt the same system. Throughout 
these vast regions,' where the human intellect is 
more active and prolific than in any other part of 
the world, not a sound can be lisped in opposition 
to existing establishments, however vicious and 
unnatural ; not a syllable can pass through the 
press, without the inspection of censors and the 
approbation of princes. When we reflect upon 
this, and when we consider, in addition, the per- 
fection to which the system of passports has been 
carried, and that through the whole continent of 
Europe, no individual can move a step from his 
domicil, even to the next village, without obtaining 
the formal permission of the public authorities and 
giving a fresh account of himself at every stage of 
his journey; when we think of the arbitrary restric- 
tions under which the mass of the people are com- 



223 

pelled every where to exercise their lawful callings; 
of the exorbitant exactions that are wrung from 
them under pretence of paying the necessary 
expenses of government ; of the continual wars 
in which their blood is poured out like water to 
afford their rulers the occupation and excitement of 
superintending those magnificent and sanguinary 
gladiatorial games ; when we think of the infernal 
art with which the yoke is fastened upon the very 
minds of the whole population, so that the fine and 
ethereal movement of thought is as much tied up 
and shackled by degrading superstitions, as the 
action of the body is fettered by the system of 
passports and bayonets ; when we think of this 
state of things, it is almost impossible not to doubt, 
for a moment, the reality of the supposed advan- 
tages belonging to the Europeans over the other 
branches of the human family. The subjects of 
the milder and more civilized empires of the east, 
such as China, Japan, and the neighbouring states, 
certainly possess much more real personal liberty, 
than is now enjoyed in the continent of Europe ; 
and the advantages resulting from the superiority, 
to which the arts and sciences have been here 
pushed, are not much felt by the mass of the 
people ; while in the hands of their oppressors, this 
very superiority is used as a most effective instru- 



224 

uient against them. Even in the Mahometan 
countries, however rude and hrutal may be their 
outward forms, the essential state of things does 
not seem to be materially worse. There, as here, 
an individual, whose existence is wholly inde- 
pendent of political affairs, may probably vegetate 
at ease, except at the occurrence of some disastrous 
crisis, which may happen alike in Europe as in 
Asia ; and if he has less security for his property, 
he also pays an infinitely smaller price for it. In 
both, if he attempts to step out of this circle and 
interfere in the slightest degree by deed or word 
with the action of government, his property, lib- 
erty, and life are instantly forfeited, and the only 
difference seems to be, whether the sentence is' 
executed by Janissaries or gens d^armes, the bow- 
string or the bayonet. 

But the difference in favour of Europe, and the 
consolation of the friends of liberty and humanity, 
lie in this — that the oppression, under which most 
of the christian countries are now labouring, is an 
accidental and transitory state of things, the ago- 
nizing effort of despotism to retain its hold upon 
the power that is slipping through its grasp by the 
action of the great forces of nature, and which it is 
about as easy to control in this way, as it would be 
to throw a halter over the tempest. This state of 



225 

things is produced by a reaction of artificial powers 
against the overwhelming torrent of civilization ; 
and, like all unnatural and convulsive efforts, it 
demonstrates weakness and not strength in the 
quarter where it appears. We find in the history of 
Europe but few traces of this system, previously to 
the reign of Bonaparte. It was he who first invented 
and put in practice this vast machinery, which 
envelops, like an invisible net, every individual in 
Europe ; and it is from him that the present most 
christian sovereigns have received the discovery as 
a legacy. It is wonderful that this consideration 
does not strike them with more force ; wonderful 
that they should make use, without hesitation or 
scruple, of this mode of government, when they 
know that the anguish and despair, produced by 
the operation of it in the hands of its author, was 
the only effective engine of resistance they were 
ever able to employ against him. How can they 
avoid perceiving that the same opinions and feel- 
ings, which were arrayed against Bonaparte, are 
now opposed to them ; that the very individuals, 
who were most active in stimulating the people to 
resist him, are now languishing in prison or in 
exile by their order, for professing the same 
doctrines they held before ? In Germany, as in 
Spain, the patriots, who, in the worst of times, had 
29 



226 

rendered the mofeit important services to the royal 
families, are many of them withering in banish- 
ment or dying in dungeons, because they had -the 
courage to shew, by their conduct, that they were 
inspired by a wish to serve their country, and not 
by blind devotion to the person of a despot ; and 
the same result that happened in Spain must occur 
sooner or later in Germany. No power of congresses 
or gens (Parmes can ultimately succeed in nailing 
this iron mask upon the fair face of civilized 
Europe, as a permanent system. The political 
scene is constantly shifting, its actors are con- 
stantly changing their relations to each other, and 
if, as there is reason to fear, the cause of liberal 
principles in Germany has not sufiicient internal 
force to make head against the overwhelming mass 
of foreign influence ^vliicli now crushes it to the 
earth, it will infallibly derive relief and assistance 
from the effect of new political combinations that 
must happen in the course of events. If one 
accident does not produce them, another will. 
The affair of Naples threatened dissolution to the 
holy alliance, and had the cause of liberty been 
well supported in Italy, would have completed it. 
The struggle in the Turkish empire now holds out 
a new prospect of the same desirable occurrence. 
Should this also fail, something else will finally 



succeed, as the suppression of eleven insurrections 
in the Spanish peninsula only made the triumph 
of the twelfth more perfect and brilliant. 

Of the different European governments, Germany, 
the only powerful nation, which is organized in the 
form of a confederacy, most naturally offers itself as 
an object of comparison with the United States; and 
the contrast between the situation of the two coun- 
tries illustrates very strongly the excellence of our 
institutions, and the advantages of our position. 
The blessings we enjoy, and which we never prize 
sufficiently till we have had the opportunity of as- 
certaining their value by contrast ; these blessings 
are secured to us by two principal causes, one geo- 
graphical and the other political. The first is our 
distance from other nations of superior power, and 
the second our internal union. Of these propitious 
circumstances, which may well be regarded as the 
peculiar favours of Providence bestowed upon our 
country, the one gives us complete security from 
foreign violence, without the ruinous resource of 
standing armies, hardly less dangerous, when neces- 
sary, than the evil they are intended to remedj^ ; 
and the other establishes our domestic politics upon 
the basis of perpetual peace. We may see in Ger- 
many, as in a mirror, what would have been our 
situation, if we had not possessed the first of these 



228 

securities ; and what it would be, if we should ever 
deprive ourselves of the other. Of the bounty of 
nature, thank God, no human efforts can bereave us ; 
and we may hope, that the sacred tie of our union 
will hold us together, as long as the vast Atlantic 
shall sever us from Europe. If, in an hour of mad- 
ness, we ever dissolve it, we should then see, as in 
Germany, our states arrayed against each other in a 
perpetual succession of internal wars, our militia 
converted into standing armies, our presidents and 
governors into hereditary despots, our learned and 
upright magistrates into an insulting and oppres- 
sive aristocracy, and our free and happy population 
into wretched peasants and personal slaves. We 
should even lose the security we now derive from 
our remote position in regard to Europe. Foreign 
powers would obtain a footing among us, by flat- 
tering our sectional passions and interests, and would 
play us off against each other. Our welfare, like 
that of Germany, would be sacrificed to their cu- 
pidity and ambition ; and we should find ourselves 
entangled in a web of various oppression, which it 
would be at once impossible to shake off, and torment 
and death to wear. 



229 

CHAPTER Vr. 

Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands. 

In purely despotic or autocratic governments, the 
body politic is the sovereign. Dttat c^est moi-^^ I 
am the state' — was an observation of Louis XIV ; 
and de facto the remark was just. In such countries 
the only political changes are those, w^hich occur in 
the person of the ruler, either by the succession of a 
new incumbent to the throne, or by an alteration in 
the character and habits of the existing one. For a 
length of time to come no other changes can occur 
in Russia, where; the mass of the nation is in too 
uncivilized a state to aspire after better institutions, 
or to admit their introduction by rulers, who know 
their value. Violent alterations in the line of suc- 
cession have been frequent ; and within a few years 
there has been a considerable apparent change in 
the policy and dispositions of the reigning emperor, 
which has had, and will continue to have, a very 
important influence in the general politics of Europe. 

The emperor Alexander has been pronounced, 
till lately, by general acknowledgment, a sincere 
friend of liberal political principles. They were 
transmitted to him by hereditary descent from his 
illustrious grandmother, tiie great Catherine ; and 



ISO 

bj her direction he was placed in his youth under 
the care of a tutor, who was likely to strengthen 
these impressions. And a review of the emperor's 
administration, and of his personal language and 
conduct, will perhaps lead to the conclusion, that he 
really entertains in theory a partiality for liberal 
ideas ; and that this partiality is sufficiently strong 
to induce him to put them in practice, when it is not 
overpowered by other motives of superior weight. 
The misfortune is, that where the adoption of public 
measures depends wholly upon the decision of a 
single person, there is no security that a correct 
judgment will be formed of existing circumstances. 
No honest man would be hardy enough to trust 
himself with determining a private affair, in which 
his 'own interest was concerned ; and the case of a 
despotic sovereign is infinitely more difficult, as he 
has not the opportunity of enlightening his mind by 
attending to the conflict of opinion, which is going 
on abroad, but of which only a suppressed and 
modified echo arrives at his ears. His political or 
personal interest warps his reason ; and with honest 
intentions and liberal ideas he rushes headlong into 
measures of the grossest and most violent oppression. 
And the pitiful sophistry, which he employs in de- 
fending them before the public, proves that if it is 
sometimes not difficult for a man to impose upon 



231 

otlier people, it is beyond comparison an easier task 
to impose upon himself. 

The late change in the policy of the emperor 
Alexander in favour of illiberal notions of govern- 
ment is perhaps only apparent ; and there are strong 
indications in every part of his reign, that his liber- 
ality and magnanimity, however real, were never 
deeply seated enough to resist the force of immedi- 
ate personal or political interest acting in an oppo- 
site direction. If, as is generally supposed, he was 
privy to the act, which preceded his accession to 
the throne, his liberal and magnanimous feelings did 
not prevent him from taking part in the most atro- 
cious crime, that a mortal can commit ; pardonable, 
I grant, if it were possible to pardon such an act 
from consideration of political necessity, but wholly 
and essentially inconsistent with a thoroughly up- 
right character. Without dwelling upon this cir- 
cumstance, in which his participation will always 
remain uncertain, the conquest of Finland was, under 
the circumstances, a measure of precisely the same 
character with the partition of Poland. The sort of 
enthusiasm, with which he attached himself for a 
time to the person and politics of Bonaparte, even 
to the extent of approving and co-operating in the 
attack on Spain, surpassed the measure of excusa- 
ble compliance with existing circumstances. This 



232 

feeling indeed continued, to all appearance, in full 
force, till Napoleon took pains to remove it by his 
own folly. Such an engouement for the person of 
a tyrant was quite inconsistent with a thorough and 
deep felt liberality. During the struggle with France, 
the state of Europe favoured and required the fullest 
development of liberal principles ; and the emperor 
professed, and probably felt them in all their purity. 
But they did not prevent him, at the peace, from 
sanctioning the outrage of the partition of Poland, 
and disturbing the balance of power in Europe by 
annexing that country to his dominions, granting it 
indeed at the same time a constitution, nominally 
liberal, but which, from the social condition of Po- 
land is and can be nothing but a name. And we 
now see that all his liberality and magnanimity have 
not prevented him from supporting the most wanton 
and violent aggression on the liberty of Italy, and 
from frowning severely and portentously on that of 
Spain, Germany, and probably France ; indeed^, by 
his public documents and official declarations, from 
disowning and blaspheming all intelligible and honest 
notions of freedom in general. 

All these circumstances argue either great insincer- 
ity, (a supposition, which the known personal charac- 
ter of the man renders improbable,) or a weak and wa- 
vering mind, incapable of reasoning and acting with 



233 

consistency, or of resisting in practice the seduction 
of immediate interest. They argue a wonderful apti- 
tude for self deception ; and in the private life of 
this monarch we see a combination of exalted senti- 
ments and dissolute morals, which results from the 
same general cause. It is usual to allow to sovereigns 
an exemption from certain restraints, which public 
opinion imposes upon the rest of mankind ; and I 
have no disposition to be more rigorous than others 
in this respect. But I may be allowed to observe, 
that the union of voluptuousness with mystical de- 
votion proves a weak head, as well as a warm heart ; 
and these appear to be the two prominent points in 
the emperor's character, public and private. When, 
therefore, Mad. de Stael told him, that his character 
was a constitution to his empire, and his conscience 
a sufficient guarantee of it, she was acting, perhaps 
unconsciously, the part of an elegant flatterer. 
Prudence, says Rousseau, with singular acuteness 
and precision, consists in avoiding the occurrence of 
difficult cases, and virtue in doing your duty when 
they happen. Without exacting of the emperor the 
more than human prudence, that would have been 
required to keep clear of difficulty in the times in 
which we live, it is evident enough, that he has but 
small claim to the praise of virtue, when thus un- 
derstood. A few grains of common honesty and 
30 



234 

aommoii sense would have taught him, that a son 
was not at liberty, in any circumstances, to dethrone 
and assassinate his father ; that it was neither just 
nor generous to ravish from a brother-in-law in 
distress a third of his dominions ; that an emperor 
of Russia had employment enough at home, without 
undertaking to govern Poland, and control the poli- 
tics of all the independent nations in Europe ; and, 
finally, that a friend of liberal principles was very 
inconsistently employed in attempting to put these 
principles down by force of arms, wherever they 
make their appearance. 

I reserve for a separate chapter on the balance of 
power, the consideration of the extent and influence 
of Russia in the general politics of Europe. 

Of Sweden and Denmark it is unnecessary to 
speak in much detail in so general a sketch as thisi 
Denmark has long been wholly passive in its poli- 
tics, both foreign and domestic; although it has 
possessed, in the family of Bernstorff, a succession 
of the ablest and most enlightened ministers, that 
have ever presided over the destinies of any European 
kingdom. Its fortunes, during the late war, were 
similar in this to those of the United States, that it 
was at times the object of the unjust attacks of both 
the great belligerent parties ; but Denmark was not, 
as we were, in a situation to oppose a manly and 



235 

effective resistance to their insolent pretensions. 
Her capital was bombarded, as ours was burned, 
in defiance of the civilized modes of warfare, and 
common humanity ; but with us this outrage only 
roused the indignation of the people, and led to a 
more vigorous and successful conduct of the war ;* 
while Denmark was compelled to sign an ignomin- 
ious peace by the light of her burning palaces, and 
upon the ruins of her shattered monuments of art. 
At a later period, she lent her flag to France, as an 
instrument of aggression upon neutral commerce, 
and in particular upon that of the United States. 

■ The author of a Avork lately published in England, entitled ' a Narra- 
tive of the British campaigns at Washington, &ic. by a British officer,' has 
undertaken to represent this outrage, as a just retaliation upon the Amer- 
icans for the murder of Gen. Ross' horse, shot, as he says, from a window 
in the city of Washingtoji ; observing at the same time, that all the per- 
sons found in the house were previously put to the sword, as a sacrifice 
to the manes of this implacable animal. A British officer has other things 
to study beside the law of nations ; and this writer may not be aware, 
that if Gen. Ross himself had been shot from a window, instead of his 
horse, these proceedings would not have been a whit more justifiable, 
either in right or usage. But any man of common humanity, however 
ignorant of law, would have revolted at the idea of immolating a house- 
hold of innocent people, and burning down several magnificent public 
buildings, to expiate the death of a quadruped. This would be something 
worse than the madness of the Roman emperor, who appointed his horse 
consul There is reason to believe, that the motive assigned by the 
' British officer' was not the real one ; but as he has undertaken to justify 
the measure on this ground, he is entitled to an equal degree of credit 
for good sense and good feelings, whether his account be corrector not. 



236 

As a punishment for having been, during the pre- 
ceding struggles, the weakest and most unfortunate 
of the European powers, she was despoiled of half 
her territory by the congress of Vienna, in order that 
Sweden might obtain an indemnity for the loss of 
Finland. It would seem that Russia could better 
have afforded to restore Finland, than Denmark to 
surrender Norway ; and it is worth remark, that 
Russia, in order to add to her immeasurable terri- 
tory this little corner, was thus guilty of a double 
robbery ; first by plundering Sweden of this province 
without the slightest pretence of a claim ; and sec- 
ondly, by plundering Denmark of Norway in an 
equally unjustifiable way to indemnify Sweden ; 
for, although the honourable task of starving the 
Norwegians into consent devolved upon the British 
fleet, the obstinacy of Russia in retaining Finland, 
without regard to the great services and just pre- 
tensions of the king of Sweden, was the real cause 
of the dismemberment of Denmark. 

This act of injustice has somewhat embarrassed 
the internal politics of Sweden since the peace, not- 
withstanding the great talent and truly generous 
spirit of the present administration. The reluctance 
of the Norwegians to perform the part which devolves 
upon them, in satisfying the pretensions of Lenmark 
under the treaty of cession, made it extremely diffi- 



cult for Sweden to execute this treaty, and seemed 
at one moment to threaten a rupture with Denmark. 
The emperor Alexander, who had some right to be 
regarded as impartial, having plundered both king- 
doms in succession, exhibited a disposition to favour 
the claim of Denmark ; and treated the king of 
Sweden with marked incivility, returning, even 
without opening it, a letter written to him by the 
king with his own hand. About the same time, 
prince Gustavus, the son of the dethroned mon- 
arch, was sent for to Petersburg, and thence des- 
patched to England for his education, under the 
protection of his imperial uncle ; and in another 
quarter a marriage was contracted between the heirs 
of the crown .of Baden, relations of the emperor, 
and the sisters of young Gustavus. All this wore 
rather an ominous aspect, and, taken in connexion 
with the prevailing fanaticism in favour^f legitima- 
cy, gave room for apprehension respecting the sta- 
bility of the Bernadotte dynasty. By the interven- 
tion of England the affair was adjusted ; but the 
internal feuds between Sweden and Norway still 
continue upon this and other subjects. 

It has been the fortune of Sweden, one of the 
least considerable states in Europe, to take a leading 
part in the adjustment of the balance of power at the 
two most critical and important epochs in modern 



238 

history. At the period of the thirty years' war, the 
interference of the Swedish arms under the direction 
of the great Gustavus Adolphus, and the school of 
ilhistrious military chiefs, which he had formed, 
decided the politics of Europe ; and Sweden was 
in a manner the dominant power at the conclusion 
of the peace of Westphalia. At the late crisis her 
influence was far from being equally conspicuous ; 
but if any one separate event, more than another, 
gave the turn to this momentous struggle, while it 
was yet doubtful, it was perhaps the diversion made 
in the rear of the French armies in the year 1813, 
by the entry of Bernadotte into Prussia, and his 
victory over Marshal Ney at Dennewitz. The 
Swedes, though forming politically a secondary 
state, are individually one of the noblest branches of 
the great Teutonic race, which peopled the whole 
north of Europe, and is now spreading itself over the 
whole of North America. They possess in an emi- 
nent degree the qualities which peculiarly belong to 
this race, such as temperance, industry, hardihood, 
courage, kindness, and a strong sentiment of moral 
obligation. They are excellent soldiers ; and, how- 
ever small their resources, experience has uniformly 
shown, that their alliance is useful and their enmity 
dangerous. Their institutions are sufiiciently liberal, 
and the population in general has a fuller enjoyment 



^39 

of projDerty and personal rights, than perhaps any 
other in Europe ; far more, certainly, than that of 
England, with all her wealth and power, and not- 
withstanding the boast of the present lord chancellor, 
that the meanest subject in Great Britain is better 
than the first in any other country.* Their savans 
have placed the seat of the garden of Eden at the 
foot of the Norwegian mountains, as those of Belgium 
have discovered it in the swamps of the island of 
Walcheren. But if these are only innocent delusions, 
the country has advantages of much more import- 
ance. It is impossible for a traveller to pass thr'^ugh 
it without feeling respect and attachment for this 
excellent people. I have had the pleasure of visiting 
them myself; and 1 must say of their peasantry, as 
the governor in Paul and Virginia does of the cotta- 
ges at the Isle of France, that I found their dwellings 
furnished with plain wood, but filled with cheerful 
faces and golden hearts. The Norwegians are an 
equally respectable and generous nation ; and it is 
much to be regretted, that so strong an enmity should 

* ' He felt from the bottom of his heart, that the meanest subject of this 
country [Great Britain] was better than the highest of any other country 
under heaven.' — Speech of lord chancellor Eldon, reported in the London 
Times of Nov. 26, 1819. If this article maybe credited, the assassin 
Thistlevvood was better than the duke of Richelieu or the president of 
the United States. With all their vanity, I doubt whether the American? 
have ever gone beyond this in their pretension?; 



240 

Rxist between two branches of the same stock, so 
nearly allied in character, habits, and language, and 
whose political union, however unjust the act which 
brought it about, is a great and equal advantage to 
both. 

An enmity not less strong and unfortunate exists 
between two other families of the same general 
race, which were also united by the congress of 
Vienna into one body politic, and now form the 
kingdom of the Netherlands. It would perhaps be 
as difficult to discover any rational foundation in 
nat?"'e or in politics for the cordial hatred which the 
Belgians and the Dutch feel for each other, as to 
give a distinct account of the feuds and jealousies, 
that often exercise the most serious influence upon 
the happiness of private and domestic life. Their 
origin and language are nearly the same ; and 
although their habits and pursuits arc somewhat 
different, this is no ground of mutual animosity, 
since it makes them in reality more necessary and 
useful to each other. But it seems to be a general 
law of human nature, that neighbouring nations 
should hate each other ; and indeed, if our malig- 
nant feelings are to have any exercise at all, it 
must be upon oin- neighbours ; since those, with 
whom we have no relation whatever, are of course 
indifferent to us. 



241 

This mutual enmity embitters the internal politics 
of the new kingdom, and divides the representation 
of the people into geographical parties upon every 
considerable question. Nor does it appear in gen- 
eral that the direct interest of either section of th& 
country is promoted by the union. The prosperity 
of the Dutch depends upon commerce, and they 
ought perhaps to adopt the most liberal system of 
trade, in order to make their country, as far as 
possible, an emporium for the rest of Europe : but 
their policy, in this particular, is opposed by the 
necessity of protecting, to a certain extent, the 
manufactures and agriculture of Belgium. On 
the other hand, the industry of the Belgians is dis- 
couraged by the loss of the vast market of France, 
as well as by the competition of British manu- 
factures, which the government, from motives 
foreign to the interest of either part of the country, 
is not sufficiently anxious to prevent. Hence the 
Belgians look back with regret, and forward with 
hope to a union with France ; and the downfall of 
this ill cemented fabric would probably be the first 
result of a new convulsion in Europe. The only 
interest really favoured by the existence of this 
kingdom is that of British industry, which, from 
the amicable relations between the two govern- 
ments, obtains an additional market ; and after all 



242 

that has been said of the importance of the kingdom 
in maintaining the balance of power on its new 
footing, it is not improbable that the establishment 
of it was a mere mercantile speculation on the part 
of the British ministry, who took much more effec- 
tual care of the commerce and industry of their 
country at the congress of Vienna, than the oppo- 
sition in parliament appear to suppose. 

The creation of this kingdom has been consid- 
ered by some politicians, especially Mr de Pradt, 
as one of the wisest measures adopted at the con- 
gress. The investigation of this point belongs to 
another part of this essay ; but I may observe here, 
that as far as the measure produced any effect upon 
the balance of power, it tended to disturb and not 
to maintain it ; that it proceeded either upon a 
misconception or a voluntary sacrifice of the true 
principles of this balance ; and that the interest of 
Europe required, on the contrary, that Belgium 
should have continued to form a part of France. 

The constitution of the Netherlands is liberal 
and popular, the habits of the people are industrious 
and moral, and their character singularly amiable and 
upright, especially in the northern provinces where 
the race is preserved in greater purity. But the 
country exhibits throughout the melancholy aspect 
of a decayed and decaying nation. The cities have 



243 

generally sunk to a third or a fourtli of their 
ancient population, and have lost, in still greater 
proportions, their ancient preeminence in commerce 
and industry. The looms of Belgium no longer 
supply the rich and great of every country in Europe 
and Asia with their finest and most elegant garments. 
Her industry, after planting colonies in Italy and 
England, has gone to ruin at home ; and the 
fabric of lace and cambric, the last relic of ancient 
excellence, is sinking very fast. The flag of 
Holland no longer floats triumphantly in both 
hemispheres ; and the time will never come again, 
when a Dutch admiral will burn the British fleet 
at Chatham. Leyden is no longer the western 
Athens ; and the universities, whose fame at one 
time attracted students and professors from all 
foreign parts, are now not always resorted to by 
the youth of their own country. The last of the 
lights of classical learning has just been extinguished, 
by the death of the venerable Wyttenbach : and he 
seems to have left no successor. Even the glory 
of those that went before has been struck with 
premature decay, by the disuse of the Latin 
language, to which they had entrusted it ; and they 
have left but obscure traces in literary history. Such 
is the present state of Holland ; and there is much 
reason to fear that this gradual decline will con- 



244 

tiniie, until the population shall be too scanty to 
maintain that perpetual contest with the surround- 
ing elements, upon which the existence of the ter- 
ritory depends, and the soil itself shall return to the 
ocean. But whatever may be its present or its 
future fate, it will always be interesting to elevated 
and generous minds, as a spot which was once the 
favourite abode of freedom, industry, learning, and 
the arts- The seats of liberty and civilization, like 
the fine monuments of Grecian architecture, are 
graceful and attractive even in their ruins. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Great Britain. 

The country which first gave the example of a 
free and well regulated government is naturally an 
object of curiosity and interest to the friends of 
liberty ; and to this distinction Great Britain seems 
to be fairly entitled. We find in the fierce democ- 
racies of Greece and Rome, and in the modern 
Italian republics, many traces of high spirit and 
independent feeling, many exhibitions of the loftiest 
qualities that belong to our nature ; characters, 
perhaps, that have never been excelled or equalled 
in England ; but the political institutions of th^se 



245 

states were all irregular and inconsistent, and some 
of the most celebrated of them, as Athens, were 
deficient in the necessary resources for embodying 
the principle of liberty in a powerful and imposing 
form. The illustrious characters that adorned all 
these republics, and the charm of poetry and 
eloquence, that has been thrown about them in 
description, have given a sort of conventional 
celebrity to their political institutions, which van- 
ishes at the slightest touch of critical examination. 
Holland is perhaps the country which has the best 
claim to contest the right of England to the glory 
of giving the world the first example of a liberal 
and well regulated constitution ; but although the 
republic of the Seven United Provinces made a 
nearer approach to the attainment of this object 
than its predecessors, it was far from reaching it. 
It was reserved, therefore, for Great Britain to 
solve this great problem ; and to exhibit, for the 
first time, the phenomenon of a vigorous and per- 
manent political system, founded on the basis of 
liberty and equality. All the new representative 
governments on the continent of Europe are avow- 
edly imitations of this; although they have not 
copied the British constitution in every part, and 
where they intended to copy, have often failed to 
do it, from not understanding the model. In the 



24G 

United States, we have brought the forms of gov- 
ernment to still greater perfection, have cleared 
away many abuses, avoided many errors, and intro- 
duced great improvements in the details of adminis- 
tration ; but we are still proud and happy to look, to 
Great Britain as the source from which we derive 
the spirit and the love of liberty, and from which we 
have drawn all our political institutions with the 
alterations necessary to accommodate them to our 
situation and habits, and some of the most valuable, 
as the habeas corpus act and the trial by jury, 
without any alteration at all. The American con- 
stitution, as was justly remarked by the illustrious 
Fox, is that of England improved by the results of 
the experience of a thousand years. The British 
islands, therefore, whatever may be the future fate 
of their inhabitants, will always be reckoned as 
classical and sacred ground by the friends of liberty ; 
and their history and constitution will be studied 
with singular attention, by all who wish to obtain 
correct notions of political science. 

The greatness and glory to which the British 
empire has arisen, under the operation of these 
liberal institutions, furnish one of the strongest 
proofs of their practicability and intrinsic excellence. 
To assert that the prosperity of England has been 
wholly owing to the favourable influence of free 



247 

government would perhaps be hazardous. Much 
of it may justly be attributed to her geogra))hical 
position, which favoured commercial skill and 
enterprise, while it afforded security from foreign 
invasion, and much to the native excellence of the 
German character, the Saxons and Normans being 
among the most distinguished branches of this esti- 
mable race. But to whatever cause this prosperity 
may be immediately traced, its existence estab- 
lishes, in the first place beyond the possibility of 
dispute, an important position, which always has 
been and still is denied by the partisans of despo- 
tism, to w it, that a high degree of political power is 
compatible with liberal institutions ; and as their 
effect on private happiness is uncontested, this fact 
alone would decide tiie question in their favour. 
When, however, we consider the vast influence of 
political institutions in the formation of character 
and on the state of social intercourse, of industry, 
and of property, we shall perhaps iee\ but little 
hesitation in referring the success of the British 
nation almost wholly to the operation, direct and 
indirect, of these institutions. It is in this particular, 
principally, that their situation has varied, in these 
latter times, from that of the continental branches 
of the same race ; and it is precisely since this 
difference existed, that they have exhibited so 



248 

iemai'kable a superiority in many important respects 
over these nations, some of wiiom are at least their 
equals in natural advantages and personal qualities. 
Indeed the prosperity of England has continued to 
advance exactly in the same proportion as her 
government has become more and more liberal. 
Even in the golden days of good queen Bess, 
England was not sorry to be relieved by an inter- 
vention of Providence from the attack of the invin- 
cible armada. Under the arbitrary government of 
the Stuarts she was an isolated and secondary 
state. Though protestant, she took no part in the 
thirty years' war, and left it to Sweden to hold the 
balance of power at the peace of Westphalia. It 
was not till the government, after the commotions 
of the commonwealth, and the revolution of 1688 
had settled down firmly and permanently upon a 
liberal basis, that we find the prodigious develop- 
ment of power and wealth, that has since been 
exhibited, beginning to make its appearance. 
Immediately after this change, the king of England, 
who was just before a miserable pensioner on the 
bounty of Louis XIV, carries dismay to the very 
capital and council of that celebrated monarch, and 
would, perhaps, have hurled him from his throne, 
if it had not been for a temporary reminiscence of 
arbitrary times in the cabinet. Even since Great 



249 

Britain has been one of the leading powers in 
Europe, and during the late struggles, succeeded, 
bj the perseverence with which she maintained her 
position, and the vast pecuniary resources she was 
able to employ, in withstanding the coalition of all 
the rest, in breaking up their union, and employing 
them one against the other, until she finally planted 
her standard of victory upon the Tuilleries. and gave 
the law to the whole west of Europe. It is far 
from being my intention to commend this perpetual 
interference in continental politics, which seems to 
be a wholly mistaken system, when pushed beyond 
the point where it is absolutely necessary for 
national defence ; but all abuses of power suppose 
the possession of it. Meanwhile the commercial 
greatness of the country has risen to such a height, 
during the same interval, that all preceding maritime 
states dwindle into nothing in comparison ; and 
England has become to the world what Tyre and 
Carthage, in ancient times, and Venice and Genoa 
in modern, were to the Mediterranean. Holland 
alone made some pretensions to the same universal 
commerce, but on a much more contracted scale and 
for a short period. The United States are already, 
in this respect, the rivals and may perhaps be the 
" successors of England. By this vast and lucrative 
trade, the elegant and the useful arts of life have 
32 



250 

been proportionately stimulated in all their branches ; 
and wealth has flowed by a thousand channels from 
every corner of the globe into this industrious and 
fortunate little island. Such have been the effects 
and the reward of liberty ; for if liberty itself be a 
blessing, the capacity for it is a virtue. 

Notwithstanding this astonishing and unprece- 
dented prosperity, which still continues undimin- 
ished for all immediate and practical purposes, it is 
generally admitted that the present situation of 
Great Britain is critical and alarming. Those even 
who form the most favourable judgment of her 
future prospects are far from regarding them as 
perfectly satisfactory; while such as indulge more 
easily in gloomy forebodings, imagine her to be 
already on the brink of inevitable ruin. This 
danger, as far as it is real, is itself an additional 
testimony to the value of liberal institutions, because 
it is a danger resulting from the abuse of the extra- 
ordinary power and prosperity, which these insti- 
tutions had created, and it therefore supposes their 
utility. The crisis which now threatens the safety 
of England may perhaps be traced, without much 
fear of error, to a mistaken system of administration, 
as its remote and general cause. It is not unnat- 
ural for individuals or nations, w ho feel the con- 
sciousness of superior advantages, to waste them in 



251 

useless and extravagant enterprises. Great Britain, 
in the pride of wealth and power, has made it a 
part of her magnificence to take the lead, at vast 
expense, in general politics. Had she abstained 
wholly from this sort of intervention, it can hardly 
be doubted, that the resources which have enabled 
her, as it were, to hold the sceptre of Europe, 
would have been sufficient to give her perfect inde- 
pendence and security from attack at home. She 
would, therefore, on this supposition, have still 
enjoyed, in an equal degree, the only real advan- 
tage which can be alleged as a rational motive for 
such interference, however different it may be from 
the causes which actually produce it in practice. 
In other respects, how much more favourable would 
have been her position. She would be free from 
the enormous debt which has been contracted in 
waging these useless wars. Her establishment, 
civil and military, would have continued through- 
out upon a moderate scale ; and it w^ould not have 
been found necessary, in order to raise a sufficient 
revenue, to impose upon labour the enormous bur- 
dens and various restrictions which embarrass it so 
seriously, and»form, with the amount of the debt, 
the essential difficulty of the present crisis. She 
would then, in a word, have enjoyed all her actual 
advantages, and avoided all the evils and dangers 



252 

which surround and threaten her. If, therefore, 
the spirit of the British constitution may well be 
held up as a fit object of admiration and imitation, 
the spirit of the British administration in some of 
the most important parts may also be regarded as a 
salutary warning to other nations, who are or may 
be tempted, in the consciousness of wealth and 
power, to run into similar errors. It has sometimes 
been supposed that this erroneous system might be 
traced to the remnant of arbitrary forms which still 
hangs about the British institutions ; and the idea is 
not without plausibility. The European aristocracy 
have been, from habit and education, too much 
accustomed to consider politics as a game of 
chance and skill, played at the expense of subjects, 
by the several governments, for shares in the mass 
of political power existing in Europe, rather than 
as the science of promoting and securing the public 
good. Hence the department of foreign relations, 
which, in a better system of general politics, would 
be of little importance, means in practice the gov- 
ernment itself. If this supposition were strictly 
true, other nations, as the United States, whose 
institutions are organized in purer 'and simpler 
forms, would be less exposed to the danger in 
question. But, after all, human nature is the same 
in a republic, as in a monarchy ; and a spirit of 



253 

vain glory and extravagance might gain possession 
of a congress, as well as of a parliament. It is, 
therefore, important to establish firmlj as a general 
axiom, that all schemes of aggrandizement at the 
expense of other nations, either in the form of 
influence, or of direct conquest, are necessarily as 
ruinous in their effects, as they are unjust in prin- 
ciple. A practical and universal conviction of this 
truth might serve, in some degree, as a check upon 
the disposition to abuse advantages which is natural 
to all, and from which, unfortunately, the British 
government has rarely been exempt. 

In remarking upon the present state of England, 
it will not be necessary to enter much into the details 
of recent facts, which, from the great publicity at- 
tending all political affairs in that country, are gen- 
erally known, both at home and abroad, by all who 
take an interest in the subject. Jn the United States 
the situation of Great Britain is as much studied 
and as well understood, as it is in England itself; 
and, as the British are too busy at home, or too well 
satisfied of their imagined superiority, to take much 
interest in the affairs of the United States, we possess 
on this account a considerable advantage on points, 
in which the interests of the two countries come 
into collision. I shall therefore suppose the knowl- 
edge of facts; and content myself with a few remarks 



254 

in explanation or illustration of such as appear 
most important. On a subject which is continually 
brought before the public in every variety of form, 
by far more powerful pens than mine, I can hardly 
hope, that I shall be able to offer any thing new 
or very interesting ; and the whole section might as 
well be omitted, were it not in a manner unsuitable, 
in a sketch of the general state of Europe, to leave 
untouched or to pass over lightly the country with 
which we are most immediately connected. Without 
disparagement to the superior, romantic, and chiv- 
alrous interest attending the queen's trial and the 
king's coronation, the most important points in the 
internal politics of England seem to 'be the present 
state of the constitution, and the general complaint 
of distress among the industrious classes ; and it 
is to these that 1 shall principally confine my remarks. 
At a time when the introduction of representative 
constitutions on the model of that of England forms 
the leading object of attention in most of the civiliz- 
ed nations of Europe, it is certainly a curious subject 
of inquiry, whether, as some allege, this government, 
which serves as a pattern for so many others, is itself 
on the eve of sinking under the weight of its corrup- 
tions and abuses. Such a fact, if it were established, 
might well render doubtful the expediency of con- 
structing the new constitutions upon tiie same model ; 



255 

or at least would make it proper to ascertain, for 
the purpose of avoiding them, what had been the 
weak points, which occasioned its decline and fall. 
That the British constitution is actually in a state of 
decay and corruption is an opinion, which has been 
held to a greater or less extent, by most of the dis- 
tinguished statesmen of the last half century. Pitt 
and Burke, as well as Fox and Burdett, have at times 
favoured this idea ; and at the present moment the 
doctrine of reform is supported by the wealthiest of 
the nobles, not less than by the mob of radicals. It 
is maintained in the Edinburgh Review and Morning 
Chronicle, as well as in the Black Dwarf and Cob- 
bett's Register ; and it is not many years since it 
was announced by the speaker of the house of com- 
mons from his chair, that the existence of corruption 
was as clear as the sun at noon day ; and that the 
present generation treated with indifference transac- 
tions, from which their ancestors would have turned, 
with shame and horror. This general consent among 
individuals and parties of such various opinions and 
characters, in favour of the same assertion, necessa- 
rily supposes the existence of facts, which tend to 
give it countenance, in some way or other. From 
all the examination I have been able to give the 
subject, I am however inclined to conclude that these 
signs of corruption, which have been so universally 



256 

remarked and reprobated, are rather indications of a 
change in the state of property, resulting from causes 
independent of politics, than of any material altera- 
tion, that has happened in the principles or prac- 
tice of the constitution. The effect on the public 
welfare of one of these changes may be nearly the 
same as of the other ; but there is this material dif- 
ference in the two cases, that in one the evil might 
be remedied by a reform of the political institutions, 
while, on the other, such a change would be wholly 
ineffectual, and the only real cure would be a reform 
in the state of property. 

It may be remarked in this connexion, as rather a 
singular fact, that on so important a subject as the 
British constitution, there should exist no work 
of high reputation and acknowledged authority. 
Blackstone's Commentaries contain an elegant dis- 
section of the body politic and a demonstration of 
all its details, but no attempt, even to investigate the 
princi|ile of life. De Lolme, the only writer on the 
subject, who has obtained a certain degree of celeb- 
rity, was a foreigner, and published his treatise at 
the age of twenty-seven. These circumstances ex- 
cite a strong presumption against its value, which is 
fully confirmed by perusal. There are no traces in 
it of a profound or philosophical mind ; and it is, after 
all, rather a book of jurisprudence, than of politics. 



257 

There are several other treatises, which doubtless 
have their value, but none that has obtained that 
stamp of authority, which is always affixed by the 
public voice to works of pre-eminent merit. The 
chapters devoted to the subject by Montesquieu, in 
his Spirit of Laws — still the work of a foreigner — 
however inadequate in extent to the magnitude of 
the theme, are, notwithstanding, the finest monu- 
ment, which has yet been erected by philosophy to 
this remarkable political phenomenon. A treatise 
on the British constitution would have formed a 
noble subject for the leisure of Fox or Burke ; and 
would worthily employ the genius of Mackintosh, 
if, after publishing his promised history, he should 
be able to borrow time enough from liis important 
parliamentary labours for such a purpose. This 
branch of learning, as sir James himself observes of 
another, ' requires the skill of a new builder.' I 
ought to add, that I have not seen the late publica- 
tion of a distinguished statesman of the school of 
Fox, lord John Russell, which may perhaps have 
supplied the deficiency. 

If, however, without being biassed by the opinions 
of statesmen, or the prejudices of parties, we look 
in detail into the present state of the principal politi- 
cal institutions of this country, we shall find them, 
I think, in a great measure sound and healthy. The 



258 

habeas corpus act and the trial by jury, which are 
the legal securities of personal liberty in its several 
branches, including the freedom of the press, are 
still in full vigour, nor is there any danger of their 
being attacked. It is true, that the habeas corpus 
act is sometimes suspended, perhaps unnecessarily ; 
and we hear occasional complaints of packed and 
special juries, which are probably not wholly without 
foundation. But from the frequency, with which 
verdicts are given against the government in political 
cases, it is evident enough, that the spirit of the 
institution still exists. The liberty of the press, 
though nominally restrained somewhat more than it 
is in the United States, is in practice equally exten- 
sive, as is clear from the fact, that the abuses of it 
are infinitely greater than with us. There has never 
been any appearance in the United States of the 
blasphemy and sedition, which for several years 
past have inundated the British islands, in cheap and 
popular forms. The suppression of such publications 
is undoubtedly an act of substantial justice ; and, as 
it is also done according to the forms of law, there is 
no ground to regard it as oppression. It seems to mc 
to be more reprehensible on the score of policy ; for 
the great sensation and scandal created by these 
prosecutions do more perhaps to give currency to 
the infamous productions in question, than any in- 



259 

trinsic attraction belonging to them, since they can 
rarely be written with talent. The works of Paine 
may serve as an example. I learn from the pro- 
ceedings at the trial of the bookseller Carlisle, that 
two or three editions of them have been printed in 
the United States, a fact which I should not else 
have known, for I never saw a copy of them in 
a bookseller's shop in America, and very few in 
private collections. There is no law, however, to 
prohibit the printing or the selling of them here, nor 
would any attempt be made to molest a printer, who 
should undertake it. In point of fact, they are never 
heard of amongst us, and excite no interest. Their 
existence would probably have been forgotten, were 
it not, that from time to time an account arrives in 
the British papers of the trial of a bookseller for 
selling the Age of Reason. I see no cause why a 
similar system should not produce the same effect in 
Great Britain ; and the operation of the contrary one 
is far from being equally fortunate. The book, by 
being continually kept in view, retains its hold on 
public attention. It is read by the people more be- 
cause the printer has been prosecuted, than from any 
other reason. At every fresh trial the most scandalous 
matter is urged in defence, which must either be 
repressed by a very unpopular, and indeed unjust 
exertion of authority, or be tolerated with much 



260 

greater damage to the public, than could ever arise 
from the work itself. Not only this, but the most 
obnoxious passages of the book form a part of the 
defence, and are reprinted upon these occasions in 
all the newspapers, and obtain more publicity by 
this means in a single day, than they could have in a 
century in their ordinary form. If, by this process, 
the work were finally suppressed, more might be 
said in favour of it ; but the next bookseller of daring 
character and desperate fortunes reprints it, and must 
be indicted with further scandal and another publi- 
cation in the newspapers. Can it be seriously main- 
tained, that this is the best way of diverting the 
public attention from a dangerous work ? At the 
same time I acquit the British government of tyran- 
nical intention in these proceedings. Such excesses 
are in fact far more dangerous to liberty than they 
are to power. The freedom of the press within and 
even beyond the bounds of decency is unfettered. 
Journals and books are daily published with- 
out notice, which in France or Germany would 
plunge their authors in a dungeon or bring them to 
the block. The plan of a preliminary inspection of 
manuscripts would, I am persuaded, be rejected with 
as much contempt by the government, as it would 
be by the opposition. I conclude, that personal 
liberty in its several branches is still protected by all 



261 

its ancient legal securities, and that in this essential 
point the principles and practice of the constitution 
have suffered no corruption. Indeed, the last per- 
manent alteration connected with this subject was 
the one effected at the instance of Mr Fox in the 
law of libel, and was highly favourable to liberty. 
If, in the next place, we examine the present state 
of property, a point still more important than the 
other, because it is the state of property which reg- 
ulates the practical value of the legal securities of 
personal liberty, we shall find, that as far as it de- 
pends on legal institutions it is unaltered ; or, if 
altered, that the changes have been all favourable 
to liberty. The most illiberal feature, and indeed 
almost the only one in the British jurisprudence 
respecting property, is the feudal law of primogeni- 
ture, by which landed estates descend to the eldest 
son, a rule by the by, which, notwithstanding its 
illiberality, has been retained in many parts of the 
United States. This rule, however, is not the growth 
of modern times. There has been, on the contrary^ 
a steady effort in parliament to break down the 
feudal restraints on the free circulation of landed 
property, especially in favour of just creditors. The 
prodigious development, which has been given to com- 
merce and manufactures within the last century, as 
well as the creation of tlio debt, also tend very much 



VK' \^\^\/>^ ( i*V '^.U-^ 



262 

to diminish the practical importance of this principle, 
since all property vested in the public stocks, and a 
great part of the capital employed in all the branches 
of industry, follow in their distribution the more 
natural and equitable rule of an equal division among 
the children. It is probable, that in the time of 
Edward I the circulation of nine-tenths of the prop- 
erty in the kingdom was obstructed by the feudal 
restraints on land ; whereas, at the present day, it is 
doubtful whether they operate in this way upon 
more than a tenth, or perhaps a twentieth. In gen- 
eral, therefore, the gradual changes, which have 
occurred in the state of property, as regulated by 
political institutions, have been favourable, and not 
adverse to the cause of liberal principles. 

If now we rise from these principles, which con- 
stitute the broad and substantial basis of the fabric 
of British liberty, to the forms of legislation and ad- 
ministration, we shall be satisfied still more easily, 
that HO unfavourable change has occurred in this 
part of the political institutions of the kingdom. 
The modes of legislation and administration are in 
form more important, than any other part of the con- 
stitution, because the persons or bodies entrusted with 
these functions possess ostensibly the power of reg- 
ulating and altering all the other institutions, and 
with them the securities of liberty and personal 



263 

lights. Hence the system of legislation and admin- 
istration is commonly regarded as the constitution 
itself. In reality, the importance of this part of the 
constitution is rather ostensible than real, because 
the spirit of the government in all its branches does 
not depend so much upon the forms which regulate 
the making and executing of the laws, as upon the 
social condition of the people, and especially the 
state of property. But whatever importance may 
be attached to this part of the constitution, it is evi- 
dent enough, that no unfavourable change or corrup- 
tion has taken place in it of late ; since the complaint 
is, that the constitution remains in this respect as it 
was. The general cry for reform supposes of itself, 
that the constitution is in a great measure unchang- 
ed, and of course uncorrupted ; whereas, in the 
opinion of the reformers, it stands in need of altera- 
tion and amendment. It would seem, therefore, 
from this general survey of the several parts of the 
constitution, that the corruption, which is admitted 
to exist, does not reside in the political institutions 
of the country, either substantial or formal, all of 
which remain very nearly in their ancient slate, or, 
if changed, have been changed in favour of liberty. 
It is urged by the reformers, in re])ly to this 
course of argument, that although the political 
institutions remain uncorrupted, a cliange has 



264 

occurred in the state of property, and in the con- 
dition of the country, which prevents the constitu- 
tion in its present form from securing the liberty of 
the subject, as well as it did in ancient times. 
Boroughs, that were formerly populous, but are 
now decayed and uninhabited, still send their 
representatives to parliament ; while thriving and 
wealthy cities, wdiich have grown up in modern 
times, have no direct share in legislation. Hence 
the house of commons, which represented tolerably 
well the interests which existed, when the consti- 
tution assumed its present shape, affords no ade- 
quate expression of those which exist now. The 
rapid development of industry, in all its branches, 
has also thrown into the country a great additional 
mass of circulating capital which may be used for 
the purpose of affecting the elections ; and mem- 
bers of parliament, which were anciently the depu- 
ties of their fellow citizens, may be now only the 
creatures of a wealthy proprietor. The population 
of the country is three or four times as great as it 
was when the number of members of parliament 
was fixed, and the representation no longer bears 
the same proportion that it did to the number of 
the citizens. Besides this, the vast increase in the 
annual expenses of the nation, resulting from the 
great extension given to all the civil and military 



265 

establishments, and from the augmentation of the 
debt, has led to a proportionate augmentation of the 
public revenue, and consequently to a proportionate 
increase in the influence of the crown. This influ- 
ence, considering the class of society upon which it 
operates, and the faculty of distributing honour as 
well as profit, involved in it, may perhaps be suffi- 
cient to neutralize the influence of all the private 
proprietors in the kingdom ; in which case the 
crown is wholly uncontrolled by any other political 
power, and the government is substantially despotic. 
Thus the Roman government, without any change 
in its forms, was converted from an irregular de- 
mocracy into a military despotism. 

Admitting, for a moment, the correctness of 
these suppositions and conclusions, it may still be 
asked, how is the evil to be remedied by a reform 
of the constitution ? The evil complained of is the 
indirect influence of property ; but it is a principle, 
which has long been generally recognized, that 
property will exercise its influence alike under all 
forms of government. The effective political power 
is attached of necessity to the influence of the mass 
of property. Where, as in the United States, this 
mass is distributed in small portions through the 
body of the people, so that almost every individual 
is a proprietor to a greater or less extent, almost 
o4? 



266 

every individual has in consequence a proportionate 
share of political power ; not so much because he 
possesses the right of sufilrage, which is also with 
us nearly universal, as because he enjoys by means 
of his property a moral independence and a weight 
in society, which give importance and value to his 
opinion and his vote, while under other circum- 
stances he might be merely an instrument in the 
hands of others. If, on the contrary, the state of 
property be such in England, that a comparatively 
small portion of the inhabitants possess nearly the 
whole, and the rest have little or no share in it, it 
follows of necessity, that the former must possess, 
under any form of government, the effective political 
power. The rest of the population is to a greater 
or less extent personally dependent upon the pro- 
prietors, and must of course act under their influ- 
ence. A change in the form of elections would 
make no essential alteration in this state of things. 
It would be easy to transfer the right of sending 
members of parliament from the decayed boroughs 
to the manufacturing and commercial towns. This 
right would then be exercised under the direct 
influence of the wealthy manufacturers and mer- 
chants ; but as the same influence now operates 
indirectly to as great an extent at the elections for 
boroughs, the general result would be the same. 



267 

The right of suffrage might be made more general, 
but it may be doubted whether it would therefore 
be exercised in a more independent way. A large 
proprietor would counterbalance, by the votes of his 
tenants and labourers, the weight of hundreds of 
smaller ones ; and the general result would be, as 
it is now, determined by the influence of property. 
Nor does it appear that a reform in the modes of 
election would produce any diminution in the influ- 
ence of the government. The revenue would still 
remain the same, and the disbursement of it would 
produce the same general effects as before upon 
society. It is by this moral operation, and not by 
direct bribery, that the ministry exercise their influ- 
ence. The government would still be as great a 
proprietor as before. In order to diminish its influ- 
ence, it would be necessary to reduce the debt and 
contract the establishments, civil and military. 
But it may be doubted, whether a reformed parlia- 
ment would be more likely to adopt this system 
than the present one ; since the parliament, how- 
ever chosen, would still represent the interest of the 
proprietors ; and the first effect of such a system, 
as regards the debt, would be the ruin of all the 
proprietors in the kingdom. The establishments 
might be contracted without any injury to private 
property : but as the annual expenses aie not the 



268 

most considerable part of the whole, this measure 
alone would not materially diminish the revenue ; 
and it could not be adopted to any great extent 
without abandoning the colonies, resigning to other 
hands the sceptre of the ocean, and the balance of 
Europe, and descending to the condition of an 
isolated and secondary state. It is not probable 
that any parliament, reformed or not, in the present 
situation of British feeling, would encounter these 
results. Since then the political system of the 
country, and not the form of elections, places this 
vast revenue at the disposal of government ; a 
change in the form of elections would, in this 
respect, make no difference. In short, if it be ad- 
mitted as a principle, that a parliament, however 
chosen, will represent, as it does now, the property 
of the country ; it follows of necessity, that any 
attempt to change its character is useless, even if 
the object were desirable, because it could not pos- 
sibly succeed. 

In reality, however, it is neither unjust nor inexpe- 
dient, that in any given state of property, the proprie- 
tors should possess the political power ; although it 
is easy to conceive, that one state of property may 
be infinitely more conducive to the general welfare, 
than another. Nor does it appear that it is a cor- 
rect description of the present state of things in 



269 

England to say, as I have supposed the reformers 
to urge above, that the influence of the crown has 
been greatly augmented, and that the government 
is assuming the spirit if not the form of despotism. 
What in fact is, at present, the influence of the 
crown ? The crown is represented by a council of 
responsible ministers. These m-inisters must be 
appointed and must exercise their functions in con- 
currence with the opinion of two legislative bodies, 
consisting of about fifteen hundred of the largest 
proprietors, and ablest men in the kingdom. These 
proprietors may be considered as a fair representa- 
tion of the property of the country ; and upon the 
property of the country is dependent the mass of 
population, as tenants and labourers. It is not pre- 
tended that the crown can govern in opposition to 
parliament, that is, to the proprietors ; and the idea 
of corrupting the proprietors involves a contradic- 
tion in terms. It is not therefore the influence of 
the crown, but the influence of the proprietors, 
which has been gradually increasing with their 
property ; and which really prevails in the country ; 
and the ministers may as fairly be considered a 
permanent deputation of parliament, as a committee 
of agents for the crown. In this predominant influ- 
ence of the proprietors, there is nothing despotic or 
arbitrary. On the contrary, it is natural, and of 



270 

course jusf, that, assuming any given state of 
property, the proprietors, constituted by it, should 
in substance govern. The misfortune is in England 
that the state of property does not seem to be the 
most favourable to the general good, that might be 
imagined. The great influx of vi^ealth, and the 
consequent activity of commerce and industry, 
have thrown the soil into the hands of a small 
number of proprietors, and reduced the mass of the 
population to a state of complete dependence ; 
which, although they still enjoy all their ancient 
securities of liberty and property, differs very little 
in its moral or political effect from actual servitude. 
The remedy for this is not a reform in the consti- 
tution, but a revolution in the state of property. 

If these remarks on the present state of the 
British constitution are just, it may be concluded, 
that it still exists, both in form and substance, in its 
ancient purity ; and that if the mass of the people 
no longer enjoy, in the same degree as they did 
formerly, the blessing of practical liberty, it is owing 
to other circumstances, and not to an alteration of 
the political institutions. The subject may perhaps 
be further illustrated by a few remarks upon the 
different parties, which, before and since the peace, 
have been most active in demanding a reform in 
the government. 



271 

1. The most numerous and clamorous of these 
parties is the one, which has made its appearance 
within the last few years, and passes under the 
name of the Radicals. This party has been created 
by the reaction in the state of property above men- 
tioned, which reduced the lower orders of the 
people to a state of precarious dependence ; and in 
connexion Avith the effects of the late political 
events, threw upon the country a vast number of 
individuals, nearly or quite destitute of employment 
and the means of subsistence. That such persons 
should be uneasy at the existing state of things is a 
matter of course ; and since, in general, they are 
as ignorant as they are wretched, it is equally nat- 
ural that they should believe those who tell them 
that a reform in parliament would afford them 
relief The small number of prominent charac- 
ters, who have acted as leaders, are from a class of 
society, but little above the mass of their followers, 
are in general under the operation of the same mo- 
tives, and equally deficient in intelligence. Hence 
they may be quite honest in supposing, with the rest, 
that parliamentary reform would cure them of 
poverty, their real and only disease. One class of 
these radicals seems, however, to have taken a 
more distinct view of the state of affairs ; and actu- 
ally pointed out a revolution in property as the 



272 

suitable remedy. They were called Spenceans, 
from one Spence^ who wrote several pamphlets on 
the subject, and acted as the head of this sect. 
The utter wretchedness and abject poverty of the 
whole mass of these tumultuous reformers, notwith- 
standing their numerical force, is sufficiently evi- 
dent from the extreme smallness of their common 
resources. A pound or two, or a few shillings, 
make up the product of a general subscription of 
the party for political purposes ; and the important 
affair of disbursing and rendering an account of 
such simis as these, has led repeatedly to public 
discussions and law suits among their different 
agents. Another proof of their entire want of 
resources is the contemptible character of all their 
leaders ; for in a country like England, which is 
greatly overstocked with cultivated talent, a party 
so numerous as this, commanding the least re- 
sources, would never stand in need of able chiefs, 
whatever might be its objects. The radicals, on 
the contrary, have hardly been able to enlist in 
their cause a solitary individual of talent or charac- 
ter. Sir Francis Burdett, Mr ilobhouse, and some 
other members of the house of commons, who 
separate themselves from the whigs, and approach 
more nearly in their language to the radicals, are 
still not to be regarded as belonging to that party, 



273 

with which they never act and have nothing in 
common. Hunt and Cobbett are perhaps the only 
two, who can be considered as exceptions to the 
general poverty of talent. The latter, indeed, is 
really a nervous and powerful writer ; and, in the 
service of a more formidable party, would have been 
found by the government no contemptible antag- 
onist. 

Such are the wretched materials of which the 
party of radicals is made up ; and yet when we 
read in the newspapers the detailed and pompous 
accounts of the meetings of Spa-fields and at 
Manchester, and of the triumphal entry of Hunt 
into the metropolis, attended and followed by an 
escort of hundreds of thousands, with handkerchiefs 
waving at the windows, and flowers scattered along 
the streets, we might almost conclude that the 
people at large were rising en masse to shake oft' 
the yoke of some unprincipled tyrant, and that this 
notorious demagogue was no other than the hope 
and saviour of his country. In reality, two thirds 
of the crovv'd that assembles upon all these occa- 
sions are probably attracted by mere curiosity, and 
it is this portion only, which gives to the meeting 
its exterior appearance of respectability. Those 
who really assemble for a political object, are as 
wretched as I have described them : and it was 



274 

found accordingly, even before these public meet- 
ings had been interrupted by law, but after the 
novelty of the thing had worn off, and they were 
no longer an object of curiosity, that they excited 
no attention even in the heart of London. The 
last that were held at Smithfield and other parts of 
the metropolis hardly consisted of a few hundred 
persons ; and they exhibited the nucleus of the 
party in its unsophisticated state of rags and wretch- 
edness. The few contemptible creatures, who had 
officiated as leaders, were all at daggers drawing 
with each other ; and this political farce appears to 
have nearly arrived at its regular catastrophe before 
the finishing stroke was given to it, by the prohibi- 
tory acts of parliament. It would of course be idle 
to apprehend any real danger to the state, from a 
party composed of such materials and under such 
guidance ; and the ministry seem to have overrated 
or purposely exaggerated its importance, in order to 
carry their measures with greater ease. Indeed, 
such a gross caricature of liberal principles and 
proceedings is really injurious to the cause of 
freedom, and not to that of power, if regarded as 
distinct from the former ; and if the government 
were anxious to w^eaken and bring into discredit 
the real friends of political improvement, the most 
effectual way, perhaps, would be to tolerate and 



275 

encourage these burlesque reformers. Where the 
Hunts and the Watsons liad gained possession of 
the front of the stage, tiie Foxes and Burkes of 
the present day would relinquish their claims on 
public attention, and retire for a time to the back 
ground, rather than appear in such company ; nor 
would the living Russells and Sydneys wish to be 
suspected of cooperating with such worthies as 
Thistlewood and his peers. There was accordingly 
an evident suspension of activity among the moderate 
reformers, during the time when the radicals were 
most turbulent and busy. At the same time, when 
the extreme public inconvenience of these tumultu- 
ous meetings is taken into view, as well as the 
danger of their giving occasion to such enterprises 
as that of Cato street, it is hardly to be wondered 
at, that the government should have thought it ex- 
pedient to suppress them. This measure was rather 
defensible, as a matter of police, intended for the 
comfort and protection of peaceable citizens, than as 
a provision for the permanent safety of the state. 
The doctrines of such a party as this, in points 
where they differ from the respectable supporters of 
liberal principles, are entitled to small attention. 
Their two leading tenets, imiversal suffrage and 
annual parliaments, could not ]Dossibly be intro- 
duced, in the present state of property in England, 



276 

excepting by a revolution. If, by possibibty, they 
could be introduced in any other way, so sudden 
and violent a change of forms, in such a situation 
of society and property, would probably lead to 
anarchy and civil war. In the United States, the 
system of universal suffrage has existed ever since 
the settlement of the country ; and the elections, 
that take place under it, are just as tranquil, in- 
finitely more so indeed from other causes, than 
those upon a different plan in England. It is found 
to accommodate itself perfectly well to changes in 
the state of society. Property retains its natural 
and salutary influence in this, as it does in all other 
systems ; and where, in particular points of the ter- 
ritory, there is a tendency towards accumulation of 
property, it is not found to be countenanced by this 
system, some of the wealthiest of our cities having 
given a uniform support to the political party which 
was considered at the time as that of the rich ; from 
which it appears that the influence of the smaller 
number of great proprietors residing in these cities 
determined the votes of the much superior number 
of other individuals. The example of the United 
States alone is therefore sufficient proof of the 
abstract practicability of universal suffrage; and 
even in such a state of things as now exists in 
Eng.and, it would probably be found perfectly 



277 

harmless and salutary, had it formed originally a 
part of the British constitution, and thus had the 
opportunity of accommodating itself gradually to 
the modifications that occurred in the state of soci- 
ety. It seems to me, therefore, that it is not on 
general grounds, but merely as a sudden and violent 
innovation upon existing forms, that this system is 
objectionable. All such innovations are in the 
highest degree dangerous, because it is wholly 
impossible to calculate their effects ; and this alone 
is a good reason why the doctrine of universal 
suffrage should be rejected, as it is, by all the 
rational friends of liberty in Great Britain. The 
principle of annual parliaments is of less importance. 
The adoption of it would be attended with some 
favourable and some unfavourable effects ; and per- 
haps a triennial parliament would, upon the whole, 
be preferable either to a septennial or an annual 
one. If, however, the general notions, advanced 
above, in regard to the character of the parliament, are 
correct, a contraction of the time of its existence to 
three years or even to one would not essentially alter 
its spirit. It would still be Avhat it is now, a perma- 
nent deputation and representation of the propri- 
etors of the kingdom. 

2. The party, which assumes the title of Whigs, 
and which is sometimes denominated that of the 



278 

moderate reformers, stands on very different ground. 
It consists of a portion of the great proprietors and 
of the ablest and best informed men of the kingdom, 
not inferior in respectability, either of accidental or 
personal qualities, to the other portion, which holds 
the reins of government. It may be regarded, in 
fact, for practical purposes, as a check or comptroller 
of the administration, stationed in parliament to give 
to every measure, after it has been adojjted in the 
privy council and the cabinet, a last and thorough 
examination before it is carried into execution. And 
this party distributes among its members the control 
of the several departments of the administration in 
the same way, that the management of them is dis- 
tributed among themselves by the ministry. Mr 
Wynn serves as a check upon the decisions of the 
speaker, and sir James Mackintosh upon the depart- 
ment of foreign affairs. Mr Tierney examines the 
finances, and Mr Brougham superintends the home 
department. The administration is thus in a manner 
double, like the diplomacy of Louis XV, a second 
list of volunteers acting as spies upon the real and 
effective ministers. If the corrections offered by these 
gentlemen are not always adopted, it must also be 
allowed, that they are not alwaj s just ; but the cer- 
tainty, that the measures of government vv'ill be 
subjected to a strict scrutiny by persons of distin- 



279 

gLiished talents and character, who have made them- 
selves familiar with the details of the several depart- 
ments, must have a very salutary influence upon the 
practical administration of affairs, and must prevent 
the adoption of any measure, that has not been ma- 
turely examined. Hence, if there were no political 
divisions in parliament, it might be advantageous, 
as a mere matter of expediency, for a number of the 
ablest members, not in the administration, to form 
an association among themselves, for the better dis- 
charge of the necessary parliamentary duty of scruti- 
nizing thoroughly all the measures of government. 
In this point of view the opposition is neither vexa- 
tious nor unnecessary, but extremely useful ; although 
its duty might often be performed with a less exhibi- 
tion of personal feeling and excitement, than is actu- 
ally shewn ; and generally with a less uniform dis- 
approbation of the views of the ministry. But if the 
whigs are considered as forming a political party, 
united in support of different principles and different 
interests from those of the other proprietors repre- 
sented by the ministry, it will be more diflicult to 
give a satisfactory account of their existence, their 
opinions, or their practice. 

It may be remarked, in the first place, that the 
claim of this party to the exclusive possession of the 
title of Whigs is extremely questionable. The ety- 



280 

niology of this term, as well as that of the opposite 
party name of Tory, it is well known, is wholly lost ; 
but, though there are no traces left of the origin of the 
name, the history of the real whig party is perfectly- 
well known in all its stages. It was no other than 
the party of the people, which resisted the tyranny 
of Charles 1, and finally brought him to the block, 
which was temporarily suppressed at the return of 
the Stuarts, which triumphed again at the revolution 
of 1688, and was at last securely established in the 
government by the accession of the house of Bruns- 
wick, and has held undisturbed possession of it ever 
since. The tories, on the other hand, through the 
whole of this period, were the party of the Stuarts 
and of arbitrary power. At the accession of king 
William, they lost ostensibly all their weight at court. 
Under the reign of queen Anne, their influence reviv- 
ed ; the reins of government were held by a tory 
administration ; and had this princess lived ten or 
twenty years longer, this party, with the Stuarts at 
their head, might again have obtained the ascendan- 
cy. Her premature death gave a different turn to 
the course of events, and crushed forever the hopes 
of the tories, which only blazed out again before 
their final extinction in the desperate enterprises of 
1714 and 1745. Whatever, therefore, may be the 
etymology of these names, and at whatever time 



281 

they may have been applied to the parties to which 
they respectively belonged, it is certain, that the 
tories were the party of the Stuarts and of arbitrary 
power, while the whigs were the party of the house 
of Brunswick and liberty. 

When the tories lost their influence at court in 
consequence of the revolution of 1688, they became 
the opposition party, and continued so during the 
time of king William and the early part of the reign 
of queen Anne. About four years before her death, 
they were brought into power ; and during this 
interval the whigs, in their turn, took their station 
on the opposition benches. At the accession of 
George I, the tables were turned again, and the con- 
fidence of the government was given to the whigs. 
Some of the leading members of the late tory admin- 
istration were impeached, imprisoned, and exiled ; 
and the rest, as a party, assumed the post of opposi- 
tion. This state of things has continued ever since, 
not having been interrupted by any subsequent re- 
turn to power of the tories. The ministerial party 
of the present day is therefore entitled, if one may 
so speak, by inheritance, to the name of whigs, being 
the lineal descendants and legal representatives of 
the original whig party, which brought in the house 
of Brunswic ; while the opposition party of the 
present day, commonly called the whigs, has grown 
36 



282 

up out of the original torj or Stuart party, and may 
be considered as their successors. That the princi- 
ples now held by the opposition are still more liberal 
than those of the ministry is sufficiently notorious ; 
and it is at least half a century since the Stuarts had 
any partisans in Great Britain. In giving this ac- 
count of the origin of the existing parties, it is there- 
fore, of course, not my intention to ascribe to the 
whigs of the present time an attachment, either to 
the Stuart family or their principles, but merely to 
remark, that this division may be traced in the reg- 
ular succession of events and of elections to that 
which took place in the nation at the accession of 
George I, when the whigs went into power and the 
tories into opposition. An opposition party must 
hold a liberal language in order to justify its own 
existence and proceedings ; and accordingly it has 
happened in other countries, that when a party, 
whose general doctrines were less favourable to lib- 
erty, has become the opposition, it has immediately 
assumed, not only a more liberal tone than it held 
before, but a more Hberal one than that of its adver- 
saries — the professedly liberal party. This is now 
seen in France, where the most decided ultras are 
also the most clamorous advocates of the public 
liberties, and in })articular that of the press. A simi- 
lar result occurred in the United States, when the 



288 

Federal party went into opposition, at the election 
of Mr Jefferson to the presidency. Their favourite 
subjects of declamation were now constitutional 
rights and liberty, instead of quiet submission to the 
public authorities ; and, what was really remarkable, 
they became not long after the strenuous supporters 
of the privileges and power of states against those of 
the general government, in direct contradiction to 
the original principle of their existence. The course 
of things was the same in England. The tories, 
when they became the opposition, became at once 
the liberal party ; while the whigs, in self-defence, 
became as naturally the supporters of power. In 
the progress of events, all who really disapproved of 
particular measures of government, as arbitrary or 
impolitic, enlisted in the opposition ; and the actual 
Stuart party becoming extinct after the unsuccessful 
issue of the enterprise of prince Charles Edward, 
the opposition was at length composed exclusively 
of these materials. But if the opposition have a 
right to claim the title of whigs, because they now 
hold the principles which belonged to that party, 
the ministerial partisans have a double right to the 
same appellation ; as the representatives by succes- 
sion of the original whigs, and because, as they 
doubtless assert, they also retain in all their purity 
the attachment to the house of Brunswic and to 



284 

liberal principles, which formed the real whig creed. 
Hence the two parties, instead of whigs and tories, 
might be called with more propriety the ministerial 
and the opposition whigs. In fact, the real torj, that 
is, the Stuart party, has long been extinct in England ; 
and I apprehend that no intelligent Englishman of 
the present day will accept the appellation of tory, 
although it is habitually applied to the ministerial 
partisans. by their adversaries, as a term of reproach, 
and although the former are not always apparently 
very anxious to shake it off. I ought perhaps to 
except from this remark the ingenious Mr Hogg, 
commonly called the Ettrick Shepherd, who, though 
a partisan of the present administration, not only 
admits that they are tories, but maintains with more 
consistency, perhaps, than probability, that the royal 
family itself is and always has been in the interest 
of the Stuarts. I have never had an opportunity to 
converse upon the subject with any intelligent ad- 
herent of the ministry, who did not claim the title of 
whig, and reject that of tory, as a reproach and a 
nickname. 

This account of the division in question being 
admitted, and it seems too direct a conclusion from 
notorious historical facts to be controverted, it follows 
of necessity, that, considering the opposition as a 
party more liberal than that of the ministry, the 



285 

division has no sufficient foundation in the condition 
of the country, or in any corresponding opposition of 
opinions or interests. In fact, the present institutions 
are founded on the triumph of liberal principles; and 
while these institutions continue, it is impossible for 
any ministry to pursue any other system ; their reg- 
ular duty being merely to carry into effect and to 
uphold institutions, which are essentially liberal. 
The party in power is of course the party of existing 
institutions ; and if the existing institutions are lib- 
eral, the party in power is of necessity liberal also. 
It is doubtless within the compass of possibility that 
in a country like England an individual or a cabal 
should form the project of breaking down the present 
institutions, and founding a despotic government 
upon their ruins ; but it is not in human nature, 
that this should be the standing policy of a succession 
of ministers, holding the government for a long series 
of years, under a dynasty established on the basis of 
liberal principles. Since, therefore, the ministerial 
policy in Great Britain is essentially and necessarily 
liberal ; and since, of consequence, there is no foun- 
dation in the condition of the country for a perma- 
nent opposition party on liberal principles, it follows, 
that this party must have owed its existence origin- 
ally to accident. This accident, as I have remarked, 
was the existence of the tory opposition. A perma- 



nent opposition party being once created, it assumed 
of necessity the character of a liberal party ; but the 
same circumstances in the condition of the country, 
which would have prevented it from growing up 
naturally, also limit very much the field of its opera- 
tion, which lies, as regards matters of domestic poli- 
cy, within the narrow compass of the variety of 
constructions, more or less liberal, that may be given 
to the same general principles ; and the application 
of these principles to particular circumstances. The 
abstract opinions of the two parties upon government 
are substantially the same ; and the only questions, 
upon which they differ, are, whether particular 
measures are consistent with these principles, or 
are on other accounts politic. Their proprietary 
interests are precisely the same ; and they are com- 
posed of the same social materials. They are equally 
attached to the letter and spirit of the constitution, 
and equally loyal to the royal family. It is obvious, 
that the line of division between two such parties 
must be extremely loose and variable ; and that the 
whole business is rather a matter of gentlemanly 
pastime, than a serious political or personal conten- 
tion. There are two opposing lines ; but their tem- 
per and operations are more like those of the two 
sides of a country dance, than of two hostile armies 
drawn out in battle array. A tone of good humour 



287 

and raillery generally predominates in the discus- 
sions, and there is the same frequent shifting; of sides 
and of partners, that appears in a ball-room. Nor 
are the parties so unequally matched, as might be 
supposed from the circumstance, that the opposition 
have no real foundation in the condition of the coun- 
try. This party is strong in the respectability and 
wealth of many of its members ; and it is strong 
moreover in the faults of the ministry. Whenever 
the ministry are in the wrong, the opposition triumph ; 
and from the uncertainty of all human judgments, 
the cases of this kind are far from being rare. Indeed, 
this party, since it came into being, has principally 
signalized itself by its determined resistance to two 
very important systems of policy, the American war 
and the wars of the French revolution. Both these 
classes of measures afforded a very strong ground of 
attack to a liberal opposition, because they might be 
represented with plausibility as not only impolitic, 
but contrary to liberty ; while it is easy to conceive, 
on the other hand, that they might be adopted as 
matters of policy by a government substantially 
liberal. The first of these measures failed completely. 
The opinions entertained of it by the opposition ap- 
peared of course to be justified by the result, and 
have been confirmed by the judgment of subsequent 
times. The second met with success not less re- 



288 

markable and decisive ; and the views of the oppo- 
sition seemed at first to be refuted by the event. But 
even the short interval that has since elapsed has 
ah'eady exhibited this course of measures under a 
new point of view ; and their policy must begin to 
appear very doubtful, even to those who most 
strongly favoured them at ihe time. 

Such appears to be, in general, the character of 
the parties m England and of their relations to 
each other. It might seem at first thought, that in 
a government founded essentially on liberal princi- 
ples, the party professing these principles in the 
most decided form would naturally command the 
greatest share of public confidence, possess the pre- 
ponderating influence in parliament, and conse- 
quently obtain the administration. A little reflec- 
tion, however, shews, on the contrary, that the 
exact reverse of this must regularly happen. 
However truly liberal may be the views and prin- 
ciples of an administration, it is stifl possible, on 
every question, to push these ideas to a greater 
extent ; and as no other ground of opposition can 
be popular in a liberal government, it follows of 
necessity, that all, who, from their personal position 
or other accidental circumstances, are induced to 
oppose the measures of government, assume at 
once a more liberal footing. However popular may 



289 

be the spirit of the government, that of the oppo- 
sition will be always more so ; and if the opposition 
itself were to become the government, there would 
arise the next day another party apparently still 
more liberal to oppose them in their turn. Thus, 
when the whigs or liberal party came into power 
at the accession of George I, there sprung up a 
new opposition, which, though founded on the 
basis of the tory or Stuart party, became imme- 
diately a still more popular party than the whigs. 
This, like other natural occurrences, has its good 
and its evil consequences. A liberal opposition is 
a useful check on the ministry and a watchful 
guardian of the public liberties. On the other hand, 
the ministry are apt to acquire a certain distaste for 
liberal feelings and principles, from finding them 
always employed as an engine of opposition ; and 
from knowing that they always will be. On 
doubtful political questions, they are apt to take 
the unpopular side, which, though defensible and 
plausible, as both sides of all questions are in the 
hands of able men, is not the true ground of the 
administration in a liberal government. This effect 
is perhaps discernible in some degree in the spirit 
of the British administration for the last half 
century ; as a single proof of which, among others, 
may be mentioned the character, already noticed, of 
37 



290 

the new constitution of Hanover. By what fatality 
has it happened that among the German constitu- 
tions, the one founded under the auspices of the 
most liberal government in Europe is precisely the 
most illiberal of all ? It is, however, the greatest 
error, into which the administration can possibly 
fall in a liberal government, to allow this distaste to 
predominate in their councils and give a colour to 
their general system. By placing themselves on 
unpopular ground, they not only vitiate the practical 
operation of the constitution, but they voluntarily 
put themselves in the wrong, and give their adver- 
saries the strong and popular side of the argument. 
It should be, on the contrary, their standing policy 
to shew themselves, as they are, the representatives 
and not the enemies of the friends of liberty ; to 
hold a decidedly liberal language and to take a 
decidedly liberal ground, in all doubtful points of 
domestic administration, on all questions of foreign 
policy, and on all general subjects. Such a system 
would not probably wholly prevent the existence of 
a liberal opposition ; but it would reduce its weight 
and numbers, disarm it of its strength, and place 
it regularly in the wrong, by compelling it always 
to exhibit itself in a false and exaggerated char- 
acter. 



291 

The complaint of corruption in parliament is of 
old standing. Sir Robert Walpole, one of the 
earliest and most remarkable ministers under the first 
kings of the Brunswic dynasty, was charged by the 
opposition of his time with employing direct bribery 
as his principal means of influence ; and the gossip- 
ping memoirs lately published of the events of that 
period, affect to give the details of this system of 
bribery, and to name the sums, that were paid to 
this or that individual. There is no appearance of 
authenticity in these particulars ; and when we look 
at the history of Sir Robert Walpole's administra- 
tion from a more elevated point of view, than that 
from which it was regarded by the opposition of 
that day, and the scandal-mongers of the piesent, 
we see that such a system was as unnecessary as it 
would be impracticable. This statesman was at the 
head of a whig ministry, and the whig interest was 
completely predominant in the nation. It was with 
infinite difficulty, and by the use of the most extra- 
ordinary means, that the tories under queen Anne 
had been able to maintain, for three or four years, 
their ascendancy in parliament ; and the reaction 
after the queen's death was so strong against them, 
that they were pursued with a sort of fury, and 
found it difficult to escape with their heads. Was 
this a time when it was necessary to secure the 



292 

predominance of the wliigs by direct bribery r 
The immense patronage at the disposal of a British 
minister will, in the nature of things, be always 
employed as a political instrument ; and this is 
probably the extent to which the charge made upon 
the government of direct corruption is really true. 
Walpole does not seem to have been a man of 
scrupulous conscience or delicate feelings, though 
a practical statesman of great ability ; and he, per- 
haps, at times, made use of his patronage without 
much regard to appearances. Burke has drawn the 
character of this minister, with his usual discrim- 
ination and felicity ; and has rescued it from much 
of the obloquy, that had been thrown upon it by his 
opponents, and had become attached to it in public 
opinion. 

But though the charge of corruption is of ancient 
date, the demand for parliamentary reform, as a 
remedy, is not coeval with it, but began to be heard 
at a much more recent period. Burke was among 
the first statesmen who urged the expediency of 
reform ; but the reform which he demanded was 
economical, and not parliamentary. He insisted on 
reductions, in the expenses of administration, and 
even descended into some not very dignified details 
of the domestic economy of the royal family. We 
hear much in one of his speeches of the king^s 



♦ 293 

turnspit, a personage who does not appear quite at 
home upon the floor of parliament. Soon after the 
American war, however, the subject of parlia- 
mentary reform began to engage the attention of 
the principal statesmen ; but it does not seem to 
have excited much interest, until the enthusiasm for 
liberty, which marked the beginning of the French 
revolution, had extended itself from France to 
England. It was then that the cry for reform in 
parliament first became loud and general, that con- 
stitutional societies were formed for the promotion 
of this object, and that it was looked upon, as it con- 
tinued to be, for a long time, as the leading question 
in domestic policy. The demand for parliamentary 
reform was therefore not wholly of indigenous origin. 
If the stock was native, the shoot, which was en- 
grafted upon it, came from the other side of the chan- 
nel ; and it has generally flourished or decayed in cor- 
respondence with the condition of the parent tree. 
While the zeal for political improvements continued 
to glow with all its first warmth at Paris, the cause 
of reform was espoused with equal enthusiasm at 
London ; but when the fair prospects of the open- 
ing of the revolution had disappeared, the friends of 
reform in England v, ere also disheartened ; the 
dispute between the parties began to turn upon 
matters of foreign policy ; and, although there have 



294 

since been periods when the interest felt in this 
subject has revived in a greater or less degree, it 
has ceased upon the whole to engage the attention 
of the rational friends of liberty, whether in the 
ministry or the opposition ; and since the business 
has been taken up by the radicals, it has almost 
\^'holly lost its adherents in the respectable part of 
the public. The whigs occasionally bring forward 
in parliament propositions of reform in detail, which 
are moderate and practicable, which might even be 
adopted with advantage, but which, if adopted, 
would make no material alteration in the state of 
the constitution. The member for Westminster 
continues to make his annual speech, denouncing 
the whole political system as a mass of corruption ; 
but the substance of the speech has now been re- 
peated so often, that it requires all the eloquence 
and high personal respectability of Sir Francis 
Burdett to prevent it from being tiresome, if not 
ridiculous. Upon the whole, the nation seems to 
have settled down into a quiet satisfaction with the 
present state of the constitution, and the opinion is 
becoming general, that the dangers, which principally 
threaten the country, .are to be found in a different 
quarter. 

If the views of the opposition in parliament, in 
regard to some very important subjects, have re- 



295 

ceived an apparent confirmation from the final 
result of the measures that were pursued, the party 
can also boast the honour of reckoning upon its list 
of members some of the most distinguished states- 
men that ever appeared in England or the world. 
Not to mention those now living, who would do 
credit to any party or any nation, it may be suffi- 
cient to cite the illustrious names of Fox and 
Burke, names that are hardly to be paralleled in 
the records of eloquence, philosophy, and patriot- 
ism ; and which will only be more closely associ- 
ated in the respect and veneration of future ages on 
account of the personal schism which grew up 
between them, and which forms one of the most 
interesting parts of their history. Their difierence 
was rather in regard to policy than to principle, 
both being warm and strenuous friends of liberty ; 
and where they differed, they were both partl}^ 
right and partly wrong. That Burke was judicious 
and wise, in discountenancing the too violent spirit 
of reform which was then spreading through the 
nation and threatening ruin to its institutions ; and 
that Fox, in encouraging it, was rather influenced 
by a generous and unreflecting zeal for freedom, 
than by motives of sound policy, will now hardly be 
denied ; and the time, perhaps, is not very distant, 
if it has not already arrived, Avhen it will be admit- 



ted with equal unanimity, that the policy of mak- 
ing war upon France, whether for the purpose of 
crushing the principles of liberty, or, at a subsequent 
period, of checking the development of her power, 
was throughout, not only unjust, but imprudent, 
and eminently unfortunate for the ultimate interest 
of England ; that Burke, by supporting this policy 
with his fervid and powerful eloquence, was uncon- 
sciously doing a serious injury to his country ; and 
that the system of Fox and his friends and succes- 
sors in this point was as politic and prudent, as it 
was generous and humane. After thirty years of 
unheard of exertion and unexampled success, the 
war seems to have ended by leaving an open field 
to the ambition of another state, infinitely more 
formidable and dangerous than France. It may be 
remarked, however, that this result does not appear 
to have been foreseen by the opposition any more 
than by the ministry. It has generally been the 
fault of the British statesmen of all parties to regard 
France merely as a rival state, instead of extending 
their views to the whole European system, of which 
France and England are ofily members, with inter- 
ests almost wholly in unison. 

Fox and Burke, if I may be allowed to dwell a 
little longer on so pleasing a theme as the characters 
of these illustrious statesmen, were not less distin- 



297 

guislied for amiable personal qualities and intellectual 
accomplishments, than for commanding eloquence 
and skill in political science. The friends of Fox 
dwell, with enthusiasm and fond regret, upon the 
cordiality of his manners and the unalloyed sweetness 
of his disposition. It is unfortunate, that the pure 
lustre of these charming virtues was not graced by 
a sufficient regard to the dictates of private morali- 
ty. Burke, on the contrary, with an equally kind 
and social spirit, was a model of perfection in all the 
relations of domestic life ; his character being at once 
unsullied by the least stain of excess, and exempt 
from any shade of rigorism or defect of humour. 
While his private virtues made the happiness of his 
family and friends, his conversation was the charm 
and wonder of the loftiest minds and the most en- 
lightened circles of society. He was the only man 
whom Dr Johnson, a great master of conversation, 
admitted to be capable of tasking his powers. The 
only deduction from the uniform excellence of Burke 
is said to have been the small attraction of his man- 
ner in public speaking, a point in which Fox was 
also not particularly successful, but was reckoned 
his superior. It would be too rash for an ordinary 
observer to undertake to give to either of these two 
mighty minds the palm of original superiority. It 
can hardly be denied, that that of Burke was better 
38 



298 

disciplined and more accomplished ; and his intel- 
lectual reputation, being better supported than that 
of Fox by written memorials, will projjably stand 
higher with posterity. Had Fox been permitted to 
finish the historical work, which he had begun, he 
might perhaps have bequeathed to future ages a 
literary monument, superior in dignity and lasting- 
value to any thing that remains from the pen of 
Burke. Both possessed a fine and cultivated taste 
for the beauties of art and nature ; that of Fox seems 
to have been even more poetical than his illustrious 
rival's ; but he has left no written proofs of it equal 
to the fine philosophical essay on the sublime and 
beautiful. It is but poor praise of this elegant per- 
formance to say, that it is infinitely superior to the 
essay of Longinus on the sublime, from which the 
hint seems to have been taken, and which nothing 
but a blind and ignorant admiration of antiquity 
could have ever exalted into a work of great merit. 
A sagacious critic has advanced the opinion, that 
the merit of Burke was almost wholly literary ; but 
I confess I see but little ground for this assertion, if 
literary excellence is here understood in any other 
sense, than as an immediate result of the highest 
intellectual and moral endowments. Such compo- 
sitions, as the writings of Burke, suppose, no doubt, 
the fine taste, the command of language, and the 



299 

finished education, which are all supposed by every 
description of literary success. But in the present 
state of society these qualities are far from being 
uncommon ; and are possessed by thousands, who 
make no pretension to the eminence of Burke, in 
the same degree in which they were by him. Such 
a writer as Cumberland, for example, who stands 
infinitely below Burke on the scale of intellect, may 
yet be regarded as his equal or superior in purely 
literary accomplishments, taken in this exclusive 
sense. The style of Burke is undoubtedly one of 
the most splendid forms, in which the English lan- 
guage has ever been exhibited. It displays the happy 
and difficult union of all the richness and magnifi- 
cence, that good taste admits, with a perfectly easy 
construction. In Burke, we see the manly move- 
ment of a well bred gentleman ; in Johnson, an 
equally profound and vigorous thinker, the measured 
march of a grenadier. We forgive the great moralist 
his stiff and cumbrous phrases, in return for the rich 
stores of thought and poetry, which they conceal ; 
but we admire in Burke, as in a fine antique statue, 
the grace, with which the large flowing robe adapts 
itself to the majestic dignity of the person. But, 
with all his literary excellence, the peculiar merits 
of this great man were, perhaps, the faculty of pro- 
found and philosophical thought, and the moral 



300 

courage, which led him to disregard personal incon- 
venience in the expression of his sentiments. Deep 
thought is the informing soul, that every where 
sustains and inspires the imposing grandeur of his 
eloquence. Even in the essay on the sublime and 
beautiful, the only work of pure literature, which he 
attempted, that is, the only one, which was not an 
immediate expression of his views on important 
public affairs, there is still the same richness of 
thought, the same basis of ' divine philosophy,' ta 
support the harmonious superstructure of the lan- 
guage. And the moral courage, which formed so 
remarkable a feature in his character, contributed not 
less essentially to his literary success. It seems to 
be a law of nature, that the highest degree of elo- 
quence demands the union of the noblest qualities of 
character, as well as intellect. To think is the 
highest exercise of the mind ; to say what you think, 
the boldest effort of moral courage ; and both these 
things are required for a really powerful writer. 
Eloquence, without thoughts, is a mere parade of 
words ; and no man can express with spirit and 
vigour any thoughts but his own. This was the 
secret of the eloquence of Rousseau, which is not 
without a certain analogy in its forms to that of 
Burke. The principal of the Jesuits' college one 
day inquired of him by what art he had been able 



301 

to write so well ; ' / said what I thought,'' replied 
the unceremonious Genevan ; conveying in these 
few words the bitterest satire on the system of the 
Jesuits, and the best explanation of his own. 

If, by the criticism above alluded to, it be meant 
that Burke, though an eloquent writer and pro- 
found thinker, was not an able practical statesman, 
the position may be more tenable, at least for the 
partisans of the school of Fox, but not perhaps 
ultimately more secure. To form correct conclu- 
sions in points of practice, in opposition to the habit- 
ual current of one's opinions and prejudices, must be 
considered the highest proof of practical ability ; 
and this was done by Burke in regard to the French 
revolution. As a member of the opposition and a 
uniform friend and supporter of liberal principles, 
he was led by all his habits of thinking, and by all 
his personal associations, to approve it ; and to feel 
the same excessive desire to introduce its principles 
in England, which prevailed among his political 
friends. But he had sagacity enough to see the 
true interest of his country, through the cloud of 
illusions and associations ; and independence enough 
to proclaim his opinions, with the sacrifice of all his 
intimate connexions. This was at once the height 
of practical ability and disinterested patriotism. If 
he pushed his ideas to exaggeration in regard to 



302 

foreign affairs, it was still the exaggeration of a 
system essentially correct in its domestic operation. 
He was rather a British than a European states- 
man ; but the moment was so critical at home that 
he may perhaps be excused for not seeing quite 
clearly what was right abroad ; and it was also not 
unnatural that he should carry to excess the system, 
to which he had sacrificed his prejudices and his 
friendships. That his system was not correct in all 
its parts may be easily admitted ; but I think that 
in supporting it under the circumstances, he proved 
great practical ability ; and wdiat system was ever 
adopted, in which it was not possible, thirty years 
after, to point out faults ? 

By the side of these celebrated patriots arose 
another not less distinguished, though his name is 
hardly surrounded in public opinion with so many 
amiable and lofty associations ; I mean the son of 
Chatham — ' the pilot that weathered the storm.' 
Prejudice itself can scarcely refuse to this statesman 
the praise of transcendent endowments, both intel- 
lectual and moral. He had the natural gift of a 
brilliant and easy elocution, great aptitude for des- 
patch of business, and a singular facility in seeing 
through at a glance and developing with perfect 
clearness the most intricate combinations of politics 
and finance. He possessed, moreover, a firmness of 



303 

j)uipose and a determined confidence in his own 
system, which finally insured it success, and which 
afford, perhaps, the strongest proofs he has given of 
the elevation of his character. It was no secondary 
statesman who could trust undauntedly to himself, 
when left as it w ere alone in Europe, like the tragi- 
cal Medea, abandoned by all the world ; and in the 
confidence of his own resources, could renew his 
efforts with redoubled vigor. His admirers will 
hardly venture to ascribe to him the enlarged phi- 
losophy or the warmth of heart, that belonged to 
his illustrious colleagues and rivals. The conduct 
of public affairs was the business of his life ; and 
he neither knew nor cared any thing about other 
matters. He was born and bred to this ; and if he 
was equal to it, he was also not above it. Philos- 
ophy and friendship were to him, in the language 
of the law, surplusage ; as Calvinism was to the 
great Cujas — Nihil hoc ad edictum Praetor is. And 
although political affairs are of a higher order, and of 
more extensive interest than any others, yet, when 
the conduct of them is pursued mechanically, like a 
mere professional employment, it becomes, like 
other professions, a matter of routine and drudgery. 
Thus, while Burke and Fox appear like beings of 
a different class, descending from superior regions 
to interest themselves in the welfare of mortals. 



304 

Pitt presents himself to the mind as the first of 
mere politicians, but still as a mere politician like 
the rest. His eloquence is marked with the stamp 
of his character. It pursues a clear and rapid 
course, neither falling below nor rising above the 
elevation of his habitual themes. No attempt to 
sound the depths of thought, or soar on the wings 
of fancy, still less to touch the fine chords of feel- 
ing, but all a + 6, an elegant solution of political 
problems very nearly in the manner of algebra. 
This profuse and interminable flow of words is not 
in itself either a rare or remarkable endowment. 
It is wholly a thing of habit, and is exercised by 
every village lawyer, w ith various degrees of power 
and grace. Lord Londonderry, though he wants 
the elegant correctness of language, as well as the 
lofty talents of his great predecessor, commands an 
equally ready and copious elocution. In the esti- 
mate of Mr Pitt's powers, I have not taken into 
account the errors of his foreign policy, because an 
erroneous judgment is not always a proof of infe- 
rior talents, but often only argues a false position. 
The misfortune of having countenanced and joined 
in the crusade against the French, and the merit of 
having resisted the spirit of revolution at home, 
belong alike to Pitt and to Burke. The praise of 
a clearer and more generous view of foreign politics 



305 

is due to Fox ; though his plan was not always 
boltomed on the most enlarged system of European 
relations, and although his glory is somewhat 
clouded by his too precij)itate zeal for political 
novelties at home. But J have been led too far 
from my immediate subject in pursuit of these 
illustrious shades, whose names, unless we see them 
through a medium of great illusion, will stand 
much higher on the rolls of fame, than those of their 
present successors. 1 must now touch slightly on 
a less seducing theme, the distresses of the country. 
If, as I have supposed, the present state of the 
constitution is sufficiently satisfactory, and if the 
country still maintains an imposing political atti- 
tude, its internal situation, as is generally admitted, 
is far from being prosperous or agreeable. The 
complaint of distress has long been loud and gen- 
eral. The decay of industry, in its several branches 
of agricuUu.ve, commerce and manufactures, has 
been repeatedly signalized in parliament and from 
the throne ; and- has led to anxious but hitherto 
confessedly ineffectual efforts to find a remedy or 
even to discover the precise cause of the evil. The 
number of the poor has increased to an alarming 
extent ; and the tax for their support now amounts 
to at least as large a sum, as the whole annual 
expense of the government of the United States. 
39 



306 

This burden alone presses so heavily upon the 
landholders, that we hear of estates of which the 
entire rent is insufficient to pay the poor rates, and 
which are consequently abandoned by their owners. 
Beside this, the amount of the other impositions is 
enormous ; and the restrictions on industry are 
numerous and oppressive. How far these burdens 
contribute to occasion the existing distress is a mat- 
ter of dispute. By some they are thought to be the 
principal cause of it ; while others imagine that the 
mischief arises from a sudden change in the polit- 
ical situation of the country. All appear to unite in 
admitting the extent of the danger and the difficulty 
of finding a remedy. 

The general and remote cause of this embarrass- 
ment is, perhaps, the change in the state of property, 
which I have had occasion to allude to before. 
The vast augmentation of wealth, obtained by the 
class of proprietors within the last half century, has 
reduced the labourers to a lower point in the social 
scale ; it has augmented very much the price of all 
the necessaries of life, without augmenting the 
wages of labom- in proportion ; because the in- 
creased supply, by the augmentation of population, 
has at least kept pace with the increased demand. 
Hence the labourers have no longer the same com- 
mand that they had before of the comforts and 



307 

necessaries of life. They are wholly dependent on 
the proprietors, and are subject to be thro\N n out of 
employment and reduced to wretchedness, by every 
change in the state of commerce. England, from 
being itself a separate nation, has, in fact, become 
the metropolitan island of a great universal empire ; 
and for the same reason, that the lower class of the 
population in a large city is more dependent and 
wretched, than it is in the country, the mass of the 
people in England is now more dependent and 
wretched, than it was before. Their misery is a 
reaction of the great general prosperity of the 
kingdom ; as the number of slaves, that is, the 
amount of wretchedness, on the estate of a Jamaica 
planter, is an exact measure of the opulence of the 
master. The commencement of this state of things 
w^as noticed more than half a century ago ; and is 
described by Goldsmith in the most touching and 
elegant manner in his Deserted Village. This 
picture passed at the time for a mere fancy piece ; 
but experience, as has justly been observed by the 
most delightful poet of the present day, is far from 
having proved that the evils he pointed out were 
either exaggerated or imaginary. The degradation 
and abject wretchedness of all the lower orders of 
the people have of late become but too evident ; 
while the overgrown and enormous resources of the 



308 

great proprietors present an unnatural and hideous 
contrast with the misery that surrounds them. 
Industrious families arc said to subsist, notwith- 
standing the high price of the necessaries of life, 
upon a few shillings a week ; while other families 
monopolize incomes of from 150 to 300,000 ])ounfls ; 
and fortunes descend from father to son, if some 
late accounts may be believed, of more than thirty 
millions sterling. Thus the actual amount of 
wretchedness is, in some measure, holden from 
public view by the princely splendor that encircles 
the summits of society ; as the poisonous and im- 
passable swamps of Florida are concealed by the 
colossal magnolia tree, which towers above them to 
immeasurable heights, and charms the distant spec- 
tator with the magnificent richness of its foliage 
and the matchless size and beauty of its flowers,' 
perfuming the air, for miles around, with their de- 
lightful odour. 

This being the nature of the evil, it is easy to 
imagine how difficult it is to find a remedy. A 
change in the state of property would seem to be 
the most natural one ; but as the proprietors are 
and must be of necessity the lawgivers, it can 
hardly be supposed that they will give away by law 
their own estates ; nor is there any power in the 
nation capable of taking them away by force, sup- 



309 

posing even that such a measure was expedient. 
Repeal the com laws, and at least allow the people, 
in their present abject misery, to buy their food as 
cheap as it can be had — this is impossible ; as the 
consequent revolution in the price of produce would 
ruin the landholders, who are themselves the law- 
givers, and will never sign their own death warrant. 
Reduce the taxes. This can only be done by 
diminishing the annual expenses or cutting down 
the debt. The expenses are already nearly or quite 
as low as they can be brought ; and a national 
bankruptcy would still be the ruin of all the propri- 
etors. At least, then, remove the existing restraints 
on industry ^nd commerce, and increase the demand 
for labour by extending, as nmch as possible, the 
market for its products. This indeed appears to be 
the most plausible suggestion that can be made 
upon the subject ; and has, accordingly, been urged 
with great earnestness, by the most intelligent 
statesmen. But even this measure is liable to the 
objections which may be offered against all im- 
portant and sudden innovations, that their operation 
is uncertain and their results wholly incalculable. 
In attempting, in this way, to remedy an existing 
evil, you may not only fail of success, but may 
introduce others that are still more alarming. At 
die same time the danger of doing nothing or of 



510 

doing too little, niay be as great or greater than 
that of doing too much. The moment seems to be 
critical. Delay may produce a fatal explosion ; 
and a radical war of extermination may break out 
and desolate the kingdom. Or, if this this should 
not happen, the body politic, unless something is 
done to relieve it, may perish by the slower but 
surer process of decay ; and as England has risen, 
by similar means, to loftier heights of power and 
wealth than Holland, it may be only to sink with 
louder ruin to the gulfs below. At the next war 
in Europe, we may find her an indifferent spectator 
or a passive ally, instead of a dictatorial umpire ; 
and there are even already symptoms of such a 
change to be seen, in the character of her present 
policy with regard to the affairs of Italy and Greece. 
In so doubtful and delicate a crisis, when it seems to 
be almost equally dangerous to act and to abstain 
from acting, it must be a \evy wild and unreflecting 
ambition which could envy the post of a British 
minister. 

Among the various schemes, which have been 
suggested for the relief of the present distresses, those 
of Mr Owen strike most directly at the root of the 
evil. The only difficulty is, that it is quite impossi- 
ble to introduce in practice so important an innova- 
tion in the state of property. The merit of this 



311 

gentleman's plan is contested, on grounds indepen- 
dent of its practicability ; and especially by a writer 
in the Edinburgh Review, No. 64, who politely 
intimates, that the projector of such a scheme is a 
suitable candidate for the insane hospital. Much 
ridicule, is thrown upon the quadrangular form of 
Mr Owen's intended villages ; but this, though per- 
haps very ingenious pleasantry, has not much to do 
with the question. The reviewer seems to me not 
to have seized the precise object, which this gentle- 
man's plan is designed to effect. From the superfi- 
cial and imperfect view I have been able to take of 
it, I have supposed it to be his object to place the 
whole territory of Great Britain at the disposition 
of the whole population, for the purpose of obtaining 
from it the necessaries and comforts of life. There 
are in England vast portions of territory, either 
wholly unoccupied, or employed for mere parade 
and luxury ; and there are, on the other hand, vast 
numbers of people, who are without the means of 
subsistence, because they are without employment. 
Let the unemployed hands be placed upon the vacant 
territory ; and, whether the soil be good or bad, they 
will find no difficulty in getting out of it the means 
of subsistence. The home market will be extended 
in proportion to the additional consumption thus 
created ; and the additional quantity of labour will 



312 

be the fund, that pays for the increased quantity of 
produce. It is in vain to object to this, that the 
taxes and the restrictions on industry will remain 
the same as before ; and that corn cannot be raised 
as cheap in England, as in some other countries. 
The foreign corn trade is, of course, wholly out of 
the question, in consequence of this last circumstance 
and of the corn laws ; but if the consumption of 
corn can be increased at home, an additional quan- 
tity may be brought to market without diminishing 
the price, and the same proportional sums may be 
paid to the landlord for rent, and to the government 
for taxes, as before, while the additional quantity 
raised shall still remain for the consumption of the 
additional number of labourers. That the consump- 
tion of produce would be increased at home by put- 
ting the unemployed persons, who have now little 
or nothing to consume, upon the unoccupied or un- 
improved land, and allowing them to consume the 
fruits of their labour, I take to be as clear as any 
proposition in arithmetic. And, if the persons, thus 
employed, can obtain by their labour something 
more than the worth of the bare means of subsis- 
tence, an additional home market will be created for 
manufactured articles, as well as for produce. The 
error of the reviewer lies in supposing, that no land 
is left unimproved, except such as is of so poor a 



313 

quality, that it would cost more to raise corn upon 
it, than the corn itself would be worth when raised. 
The land is unimproved, partly because in the pres- 
ent state of the home market for produce, the quan- 
tity profitably raised cannot be extended, and partly 
becausfe the proprietors consult their own pleasure, 
in laying out their grounds, more than the public 
convenience. There is no soil so poor, that it will 
not afford an industrious laboul'er, who plants it with 
corn or potatoes, an abundant subsistence ; and if 
there is now in England suflicient unimproved land 
to support in this way all the unemployed part of 
the population, the plans of Mr Owen, could they 
be introduced, would be a complete remedy for the 
distress. The essence of the scheme, if I understand 
it, does not lie in the division of the country into 
square villages, as this facetious gentleman supposes, 
but in the assignment of the vacant territory to the 
unemployed part of the population. 

But whatever may be the extent of the distress in 
England, or the difficulty of finding any remedies 
for it, which shall be at once practicable and suffi- 
cient, it is certain, that the symptoms of decline have 
not yet displayed themselves on the surface ; and no 
country in Europe at the present day, probably none 
that ever flourished at any preceding period of an- 
cient or of modern times, ever exhibited so strongly 
40 



314 

the outward marks of general industry, wealth, and 
prosperity. The misery that exists, whatever it 
may be, retires from public view ; and the traveller 
sees no traces of it, except in the beggars, which are 
not more numerous, than they are on the continent, 
in the courts of justice, and in the newspapers. On 
the contrary, the impressions he receives from the 
objects, that meet bis view, are almost uniformly 
agreeable. He is pleased with the great attention 
paid to his personal accommodation, as a traveller, 
with the excellent roads, and the convenience of the 
public carriages and inns. The country every where 
exhibits the appearance of high cultivation, or else 
of wild and picturesque beauty ; and even the un- 
improved lands are disposed with taste and skill, so 
as to embellish the landscape very highly, if they 
do not contribute, as they might, to the substantial 
comfort of the people. From every eminence, ex- 
tensive parks and grounds, spreading far and wide 
over hill and vale, interspersed with dark woods 
and variegated with bright waters, unroll themselves 
before the eye, like enchanted gardens. And while 
the elegant constructions of the modern proprietors 
fill the mind with images of ease and luxury, the 
mouldering ruins, that remain from former ages, of 
the castles and churches of their feudal ancestors, 
increase the interest of the picture by contrast, and 



315 

associate with it ])oetical and affecting recollections 
of other times and manners. Every village seems 
to be the chosen residence of industry, and her 
handmaids, neatness and c^|^; and in the various 
parts of the island, her oi^ME j^esent themselves 
under the most amusii^fid Igreeable variety of 
forms. Sometimes her v'eHiil^s^'e mounting to the 
skies in manufactories o^- innumerable stories in 
height, and sometimes diving in mines into the 
bowels of the earth, or dragging up drowned treas- 
ures from the bottom of the sea. At one time, the 
ornamented grounds of a wealthy proprietor seem 
to realize the fabled Elysium ; and again, as you 
pass in the evening through some village engaged 
in the iron manufacture, where a thousand forges 
are feeding at once their dark red fires, and clouding 
the air with their volumes of smoke, you might 
think yourself for a moment a little too near some 
drearier residence. The aspect of the cities is as 
various, as that of the country. Oxford, in the silent, 
solemn grandeur of its numerous collegiate palaces, 
with their massy stone walls and vast interior quad- 
rangles, seems like the deserted capital of some 
departed race of giants. This is the splendid sep^ 
ulchre, where science, like the Roman Tarpeia, lies 
buried under the weight of gold, that rewarded her 
ancient services, and where copious libations of tha 



richest port and madeira are daily poured out to 
her memory. At Liverpool, on the contrary, all is 
bustle, brick, and business. Every thing breathes 
of modern times, evemj^dy is occupied with the 
concerns of the prestsii-ffimoment, excepting one 
elegant scholar, wnp uiytes a singular resemblance 
to the Roman face ana dignified person of our 
Washington, with the maguiticent spirit and intel- 
lectual accomplishments of his own Italian hero. 
At every change in the landscape, you fall upon 
monuments of some new race of men among the 
number, that have in their turn inhabited these islands. 
The mysterious monument of Stonehenge, standing 
remote and alone upon a bare and boundless heath, 
as much unconnected with the events of past ages, 
as it is with the uses of the present, carries you back 
beyond all historical records into the obscurity of a 
wholly unknown period. Perhaps the Druids raised 
it ; but by what machinery could these half barba- 
rians have wrought and moved such immense masses 
of rock ? By what fatality is it, that in every part 
of the globe the most durable impressions, that have 
been made upon its surface, were the work of races 
now entirely extinct ? Who were the builders of 
the pyramids and the massy monuments of Egypt 
and India ? Who constructed the Cyclopean walls 
of Italy and Greece, or elevated the innumerable 



317 

and inexplicable mounds, which are seen in every 
part of Europe, Asia, and America ; or the ancient 
forts upon the Ohio, on whose ruins the third 
growth of trees is now more than four hundred 
years old ? All these conductions have existed, 
through the whole period within the memory of 
man, and will continue when all the architecture of 
the present generation, with its high civilization and 
improved machinery, shall have crumbled into dust. 
Stonehenge will remain unchanged, when the banks 
of the Thames shall be as bare, as Salisbury heath. 
But the Romans had something of the spirit of these 
primitive builders, and they left every where distinct 
traces of their passage. Half the castles in Great 
Britain were founded, according to tradition, by 
Julius Csesar ; and abundant vestiges remain 
throughout the island of their walls and forts and 
military roads. Most of their castles have however 
been built upon and augmented at a later period, 
and belong with more propriety to the brilliant 
epoch of the Gothic architecture. Thus the keep of 
Warwick dates from the time of Csesar, while the 
castle itself, with its lofty battlements, extensive 
walls, and large enclosures, bears witness to the age, 
when every Norman chief Avas a military despot 
v.ithin his own barony. To this period appertain 
the principal part of the magnificent Gothic moim- 



318 

nients, castles, cathedrals, abbeys, priories, and 
ciiurches, in various stages of preservation and of 
ruin ; some, like Warwick and Alnwick castles, like 
Salisbury cathedral and Westminster abbey, in all 
their original perfection ; others, like Kenilworth 
and Canterbur} , little more than a rude mass of 
earth and rubbish ; and others, again, in the inter- 
mediate stages of decay, borrowing a sort of charm 
from their very ruin, and putting on their dark green 
robes of ivy to conceal the ravages of time, as if the 
luxuriant bounty of nature were purposely throwing 
a veil over the frailty and feebleness of art. What 
a beautiful and brilliant vision was this Gothic 
architecture, shining out, as it did, from the deepest 
darkness of feudal barbarism ! And here, again, by 
what fatality has it happened, that the moderns, wdth 
all their civilization and improved taste, have been 
as utterly unsuccessful in rivalling the divine sim- 
plicity of the Greeks, as the rude grandeur of the 
Cyclopeans and ancient Egyptians ? Since the 
revival of art in Europe, the builders have confined 
themselves wholly to a graceless and unsuccessful 
imitation of ancient models. Strange, that the only 
new architectural conception of any value, subse- 
quent to the time of Phidias, should have been 
struck out at the worst period of society, that has 
since occurred. Sometimes, the moderns, in their 



319 

laborious poverty of invention, heap up small mate- 
rials in large masses, and think that St Peter's or 
St Paul's will be as much more sublime than the 
Parthenon, as they are larger ; at others, they con- 
descend to a servile imitation of the wild and native 
graces of the Gothic ; as the Chinese, in their stupid 
ignorance of perspective, can still copy line by line, 
and point by point, a European picture. But the 
Norman castles and churches, with all their richness 
and sublimity, fell with the power of their owners 
at the rise of the commonwealth. The independents 
were levellers of substance, as well as form ; and the 
material traces they left of their existence are the 
ruins of what their predecessors had built. They 
too had an architecture, but it was not in wood nor 
stone. It was enough for them to lay the founda- 
tion of the nobler fabric of civil liberty. The effects 
of the only change in society, that has since occur- 
red, are seen in the cultivated fields, the populous 
and thriving cities, the busy ports, and the general 
prosperous appearance of the country. All the 
various aspects, that I have mentioned, present 
themselves in turns ; and, having gradually succeed- 
ed to each other, their contrasts are never too rude, 
and they harmonize together, so as to make up a 
most agreeable picture. Sometimes, as at Edinburgh, 
the creations of ancient and of modern days, the 



320 

old and new towns, have placed themselves very 
amicably side by side ; like Fitzjames and Roderic 
Dhu, reposing on the same plaid ; while at London, 
the general emporium and central point of the whole 
system, every variety of origin and social existence 
is effaced, and all are churned together, and coagu- 
lated into one uniform, though heterogeneous mass. 
There is perhaps no jDart of England, less agreeable 
and less English, than tlie metropolis. 

The poetical associations, connected with all 
these different objects, are equally, perhaps more 
interesting to a man of taste and education, than 
the historical ones. This is a charm peculiar to 
countries which have been long settled and inhabited 
by a cultivated race, and will be felt in the United 
States some centuries hence. An extreme sensi- 
bility to it is, perhaps, a proof of an artificial and 
exaggerated state of feeling ; but so is extreme 
sensibility to natural sublimity and beauty. A 
common peasant or citizen cares as little for one 
as for the other. Two thirds of the population, 
within twenty miles of the falls of Niagara or the 
Giant's causeway, have probably never seen them. 
St Pierre, in his Studies of Nature, relates an 
anecdote that illustrates, very pleasantly, this indif- 
ference of the common people to every thing but 
their immediate pursuits and wants. He was 



321 

travelling on foot through one of the provinces of 
France, on a fine spring morning, and overtook a 
female peasant, carrying under her arm two large 
loaves of bread. His own mind was in a sort of rap- 
turous glow at the beauty of every thing about him, 
and he could not help expressing it to his fellow trav- 
eller. He said to her, ' w hat a pleasant day this is, 
my good woman, and what a soft, refreshing breeze 
is blowing. How charmingly the nightingales sing 
in those woods.' ' Much I care,' replied the woman, 
pointing significantly to the freight she was carry- 
ing, ' much I care for such little yaupers. Bread is 
the thing we want.' One of the first places, where 
I set foot upon European ground, was Elsineur in 
Denmark ; and I remember that I visited the 
gardens of Hamlet, with as strong a feeling of 
adoration for the invisible divinity of genius presid- 
ing there, as ever a Mahometan pilgrim felt in 
sweeping out the temple at Mecca ; and at a sub- 
sequent period I explored the village of Stratford 
upon Avon, and wrote my name upon the white- 
washed wall of the little hovel, that is called 
Shakspeare's house, in a sort of intellectual intoxi- 
cation. Oxford, with all its present inactivity, is 
one of the most interesting spots on the globe to a 
cultivated mind ; and if we cannot view it with 
respect, as the abode of living genius and learning. 
41 



i322 

we approach it with deeper veneration, as the mon- 
ument of the departed great. There are many fine 
and affecting associations hanging about the monu- 
ments in Westminster Abbey ; although their effect 
is as much diminished, as it could conveniently be, 
by the mode of their position, and I may add exe- 
cution. After the museum of French monuments 
at Paris, it would be diflicult to imagine any thing 
more unfortunate. In general, what is called the 
monument of a great man is one of the most un- 
worthy and inadequate memorials, that remain of 
his existence. The practice of erecting them seems 
to be a relic of the infancy of civilization, when 
there ^vas little, if any, communication between 
different tribes, when literature was in its rudest 
state, and there was hardly any other means of 
handing down a name to the next generation, except 
that of writing it upon a rock. But at the present 
day, what addition is it to the glory of a great man, 
which resounds from one quarter of the globe to 
another, to put together a little tasteless heap of 
stone and marble, and call it a monument ? * The 
world itself,' says Thucydides, ' is the monument 
of illustrious men.' Of the multitudes that repeat 
the name of David Hume with admiration and 
respect, how few know any thing of the little 
structure at Edinburgh, which bears this simple and 



323 

sublime inscription : — His monument is in his works. 
And with all the reproaches which we have heaped 
upon ourselves for not erecting a suitable monu- 
ment to Washington, what nobler one does he 
need or could he have, than the liberty and happi- 
ness of his countrymen ? Or, if the glory of such 
a man could be enhanced by applying his name 
to any material construction, what object is more 
suitable to this purpose, than the capital city of the 
union ? Indeed there is a strange and unpleasant 
contrast between the diminutive size of what are 
commonly called monuments, and the greatness of 
the objects to which they are commemorated. 
There is nothing in nature so truly venerable, as 
the memory of a great and good man ; but while 
we devote the most magnificent and expensive 
structures to the ordinary purposes of life, we 
satisfy our respect for the dead with a miserable 
mound a few feet square. If we must erect such 
edifices, let them be as grand and as durable as the 
pyramids, as splendid as the mausoleum or the 
tomb of Porsenna ; and after all, the simple record 
of a good action or a fine thought will say more to 
kindred spirits, than the nhole put together. A 
statue or a picture is a memorial cf a different 
description, and very worthy of its object, it is 
oharming to see the material forms which were 



324 

oiice inhabited by genius and virtue ; and a well 
executed work of this kind is also the best com- 
mentary upon the life of the subject. Houdon's 
inimitable statue of Voltaire throws more light 
upon his character, than all the biographies of him 
that have ever been written. But I iiave been led 
from one thing to another, till I have nearly lost 
sight of my point of departure, which was, the 
present flourishing situation, to all outward appear- 
ance, of the British empire. 

There is, however, no essential impropriety in 
reviewing the poetical and historical recollections 
associated with the natural scenery of England, in 
connexion with the subject of its present flourishing 
appearance, since it is a striking and honourable 
feature in this prosperity, that it has been adorned 
and ennobled by a great simultaneous development 
of intellectual talent. It is true that the period of 
the highest literary and scientific glory of Great 
Britain has not precisely coincided with that of her 
greatest power, wealth, and freedom. The golden 
age of creative invention in poetry and prose, the 
age of Shakspeare, Spenser, Taylor, and Bacon, 
preceded the birth of liberty. Probably the same 
secret and inscrutable causes, which were then 
stimulating the people to undertake the political 
reforms that soon after occupied their whole atten- 



325 

tlon, gave an extraordinary spring to such minds as, 
hy natural genius and education, were predisposed 
to literary efforts. When the revolution com- 
menced, its paramount interest effaced e^ ery other 
of less immediate importance. Even Milton became 
a politician ; and had the commonwealth continued, 
would have been only Latin secretary of state to 
the last. It was the temporary triumph of arbi- 
trary power, which gave the world the Paradise 
Lost and its author his crown of glory. The second 
age of literary excellence, the age of high finish and 
perfection, that of Dryden, Pope, Swift, Addison, 
and Bolingbroke, coincided with the establishment 
of liberal institutions. It may be remarked, how- 
ever, as rather a singular fact, that the prepon- 
derance of genius seems to have been, at this time, 
on the side of arbitrary power. Of the great men 
just mentioned, though all took a strong interest in 
political affairs, one only was a friend of liberty. 
The nation had thus passed through the two most 
remarkable epochs of literary progress before its 
political importance was fully unfolded ; and it 
seems to be a law of nature, that after the period 
of invention and that of high polish have arrived 
and passed away, neither of them ever return again 
to the same people. Hence the subsequent epoch 
of the highest political prosperity of England has 



326 

not been marked, as a literary age, by either of these 
characteristics. There has been little poetical 
invention, and still less finished execution. Within 
a few years, indeed, there seems to be an effort to 
revive the first epoch of original creation, in all its 
wild and prolific vigour. Much talent has been 
displayed, and a great temporary effect produced ; 
but the attempt is injudicious, and must finally prove 
unsuccessful. The careless rudeness of the lite- 
rary age that precedes fine taste is graceful, because 
it is natural ; at any succeeding epoch this quality 
is repulsive, because it is unnatural and fantastic. 
After the sweets of high literary finish have been 
tasted by a nation, the proudest genius that follows 
must bend his neck to the toil required for attain- 
ing it, if he means to take his place with the clas- 
sical authors of his country. But though the 
English have not, as may well be supposed, inverted 
the order of nature in their literary progress, their 
activity, in this department, has kept pace with 
their increasing power and wealth. The language 
has been maintained in its purity by a succession of 
elegant and powerful writers. The field of history 
has been explored with singular success, and the 
works of Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon stand but 
little, if at all, belov/ the great models, which have 
been handed down to us from antiquity, Johnson, 



327 

Franklin, Hume, Smith, and Stewart have exhibited, 
like the Platos and Ciceros of old, the delightful 
union of fine taste with philosophical acuteness and 
reach of mind ; and the written eloquence of Burke 
is a phenomenon quite unrivalled in modern times. 
Whether, at the present moment, the English 
have a just right to claim the decided superiority in 
literature and science over the other European 
nations, which they sometimes attribute to them- 
selves, is, perhaps, rather doubtful. On this head, 
I certainly speak without any adverse interest, for I 
consider the Americans and English, in a literary 
view, as forming but one community. But if we 
except the present exhibition of poetical talent, 
which, as I observed just^now, presents itself under 
a questionable form, there seems to be no clear 
proof of this decided preeminence. On the con- 
trary, the activity of the English writers has, of 
late, taken an unfortunate direction, and pours 
itself out habitually in critical journals and other 
periodical works, which now appear in useless 
profusion ; and instead of being a title of honour to 
the literature of the country, as some of their con- 
tributors seem to suppose, are really both 'discred- 
itable and injurious to it. The poets, moreover, 
are too eager for money, or too ambitious of 
\'^ild and fantastic novelty, to present any speci- 



528 

mens of a finished and classical style. The moral 
sciences have ceased to be cultivated, excejjt in the 
single department of political economy, which has 
received a valuable contribution in the first work of 
Malthus. Philosophy, properly so called, meta- 
physical and moral philosophy, the philosophy of 
man, the noblest and most interesting field of scien- 
tific research, has been formally interdicted by the 
self-created censors of the age ; and the injunction 
has been attended to. The questions which have 
always been the favourite subjects of meditation 
with the greatest minds, and will continue to be to 
the end of time, are now answered in England with 
a technical jargon of positive school divinity, or a 
cynical cui bono f as if the value of truth could be 
estimated by the rules of arithmetic. Even Mr 
Stewart has marked out for hhiiself a very limited 
space in this field of thought ; and the grace and 
skill with which he treads it, only make one 
lament the more, that he has not given his excur- 
sions a wider range. Tlie standard of opinion on 
these subjects is, accordingly, far below what it is 
on the continent, and is really unworthy of so 
highly cultivated a nation as the English. In 
general politics there is no work of acknowledged 
value, since the opening of the French revolution ; 
and this is so true, that a late writer in the Edin- 



329 

burgh Review, who has attempted to institute a 
most favourable comparison between the achieve- 
ments of his countrymen and the French, during 
this period, in every branch of science and literature, 
being unable to adduce any great political writer, 
has been compelled to bring into account the 
British constitution itself, thus falling into a double 
error ; for in the first place, the British constitution 
has not been organized since the year 1789 ; and if 
it had, it can hardly be called a literary production. 
In natural science, there has been more zeal and 
success ; and though the glory of Newton has 
neither been eclipsed nor rivalled of late, it is better 
sustained than that of Bacon and Locke. The 
standard, in this branch of learning, is, however, 
not higher than it is on the continent, nor is the 
number of eminent men proportionally greater. 
In descriptions of foreign countries, the press of 
England has been singularly prolific, in consequence 
of the prodigious extent of her colonial system and 
commerce ; but the contributions from this quarter, 
of positive scientific and philosophical information, 
have not been so great as might have been expected. 
It is accordingly remarked, and not without justice, 
by an eminent German writer (A. W. Schlegel) 
that the French did more, in a single campaign, for 
the antiquities of Egypt, than the British have done 
42 



330 

for those of India in the half century, during which 
they have now held it. The labours of Humboldt, 
in a different field, are more valuable, perhaps, than 
those of all the English travellers put together. 
It is, indeed, a most surprising and unaccountable 
fact, considering the great interest of the subject, 
that the English, during their long abode in Hin- 
dostan, should not have entered into a thorough 
and philosophical investigation of the antiquities 
of that country ; and that it should have been 
reserved for the Germans, who never set foot there, 
to discover the community between the Sanscrit 
and Teutonic languages. The premature death of 
the two greatest scholars that ever went out to 
India, Sir William Jones and Dr Leyden, is some 
apology for this deficiency, though no adequate 
justification of it. As to the general comparison of 
the state of literature and science in England and 
on the continent, it may, perhaps, be said with 
safety, that France stands at least as high in both 
these departments, and Germany higher. But after 
making all proper abatement from the exaggerated 
pretensions of some English writers, who are gen- 
erally not those best able to support such claims by 
their own productions, there will still remain to 
England the incontestable praise of great literary 
and scientific activity and eminence. The country 



331 

is certainly one of the centrical points from wliich 
the light of knowledge is now distributed through 
the various regions of the civilized and christian 
world. 

I reserve, for a separate chapter, a few remarks 
on the maritime power and pretensions of England. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The balance of power. 

The several states, of which I have now taken a 
very imperfect survey, though really independent of 
each other for the purpose of their internal adminis- 
tration, and nominally for all purposes, have still, 
from their first establishment, formed, in substance, 
one vast and irregular body politic. The community 
of their origin, languages, and political and religious 
institutions, but especially their contiguous geo- 
graphical situation, necessarily created among them 
very intimate relations of various descriptions. To 
superintend and control, to a certain extent, the 
relations between individuals is the object of gov- 
ernment ; and where all the parties are confessedly 
subject to the same common institutions, it is ac- 



332 

complished with ease and success. It has been the 
gi'eat misfortune of Europe, that, although the 
several states have always formed, for many impor- 
tant purposes one political community, they have 
never acknowledged, for these or any other objects, 
any common authority. Hence, there has always 
existed a large class of interests, beyond the reach 
of the existing establishments intended to adjust 
conflicting claims, and preserve the public peace. A 
party, which conceives itself to be injured in an 
affair, belonging to this category, has no common 
tribunal to appeal to for redress ; and must either 
submit in silence to the supposed wrong, or do itself 
justice by force. In every conflict of interests, each 
party, being judge in its own case, naturally con- 
ceives itself to be in the right ; and nothing would 
prevent a recurrence to force in every such instance, 
but considerations of policy. Hence, whenever 
there is the least probability, that a party, either by 
its own resources, or by such assistance as it can 
procure, will be able to obtain any advantage in an 
open struggle, an appeal to arms is resorted to at 
once. Perpetual war is, therefore, of necessity, the 
basis of the international system of a cluster of 
sovereign states, thus situated in regard to each other. 
We And, accordingly, that perpetual war has been, 
in practice, the basis of their actual relations from 



333 

the earliest period up to the present day ; and it is 
now universally received, as the leading axiom in 
what is called public law, that nations are natural 
enemies, exactly in proportion to the extent of their 
natural and habitual relations. Through the whole 
quarter of the globe, subject to this system, the 
nations, that border on each other, are regarded as 
natural enemies, because the relations between them 
are more close and intimate, than between any 
others. Thus the science of practical politics in 
Europe, instead of being founded, as is sometimes 
said, on the same basis with that of morals, proceeds 
upon a directly opposite principle. Morality, or the 
law of nature, has established a community of inter- 
est and feeling among individuals. It tells them, 
that they are made to live together ; and that their 
sympathy will increase in proportion to the increas- 
ing intimacy of their relations. But the public law 
of Europe has consecrated the contrary maxims, 
that nations naturally hate each other, and that the 
extent of their relations is the precise measure of 
their mutual hostility. And such is the vice of the 
European system, that the principle, however odious 
in theory, is true in fact, and must be admitted and 
acted upon by every practical politician. 

Here, then, we see demonstrated by contrast in 
the general European system, still more forcibly. 



334 

because upon a larger scale, than in the German 
confederacy, the superiority of the political institu- 
tions of the United States, where politics and morals 
coincide in their foundations, and where between 
communities, as between individuals, the extent of 
intercourse is the measure of sympathy, and not of 
hatred. The United States form, like Europe, a 
vast body politic, composed of independent commu- 
nities, nearly equal in number to the European, and, 
though now inferior in population, destined, proba- 
bly, at no very distant period, to equal or surpass 
them in this respect, as well as in the other. But 
by the wise and happy institution of a common 
government, the conflicting interests between indi- 
viduals of different states are adjusted in the same 
easy and quiet way as the rest ; and the separate 
states, having no relations with each other or with 
foreign powers in their sovereign capacity, they exist 
only for the purpose of internal administration. By 
this simple and excellent provision an entirely new 
character is given to the international concerns of 
these communities. Perpetual peace forms the 
basis of their relations, instead of perpetual war ; 
and the system, which has so long passed for the 
idle dream of a few benevolent enthusiasts, is actu- 
ally realized, and exists in full practice through a 
whole quarter of the globe. It is in the effects of 



335 

the union still more, than in those of our pure and 
simple forms of administration, that we immediately 
feel the great advantages of our political situation. 
On the other hand, it is principally to the purity and 
simplicity of these forms, that the union owes its 
establishment and stability ; as it is chiefly the arti- 
ficial and unnatural form of the European institu- 
tions, which stands in the way of a general govern- 
ment here, and fastens upon this continent, as it did 
upon the communities of ancient Greece, the curse 
of interminable civil wars ; a plague, which consum- 
ed the vital strength of those glorious states, and, 
unless it can be checked, will in like manner ruin 
Europe. 

There was a period in the history of Europe, 
when the several states exhibited a tendency towards 
consolidation upon a plan conformable to the degree 
of civilization and intelligence, which then existed ; 
and had this disposition been sufficiently favoured 
by the operation of general causes or of accidental 
events, affairs might have taken a much more for- 
tunate turn, than they did ; certainly a very different 
one. I allude to the epoch of the greatest authority 
of the catholic church and the popes. At that time 
Europe was approaching very nearly and very fast 
to the form of one ecclesiastical commonwealth or 
theocracy. The jurisdiction of the common govern- 



luent was acknowledged for spiritual purposes by 
all the states ; and it was encroaching rapidly upon 
the temporal power of the military chiefs or kings. 
Some of these even acknowledged themselves the 
vassals of the church, and permanently held their 
kingdoms of the pope, as Na])les. England, under 
king John, carried its submission to the same extent. 
The people, being then throughout Europe in a state 
of unresisting bondage, took of course no part in 
the matter, excepting in the form of vassals and 
mercenary troops ; and the question was, which of 
the two castes, ecclesiastical and military, that 
shared the power between them, should obtain the 
ultimate ascendancy. Had the clergy prevailed, 
Europe would have taken the form of a great eccle- 
siastical state, like the empire of the Mahometan 
caliphs, and that of Japan during a long period of 
its history. The precise position, which the military 
chiefs would have held in such an empire, it is now 
unnecessary to conjecture. These chiefs, having 
fmally triumphed, and defeated the power of the 
clergy, the general body politic assumed the form of 
a cluster of independent states, under military gov- 
ernments. We now consider this success as neces- 
sary or natural, as well as rightful and just; and 
regard the pretensions of the clergy, as an arrogant 
attempt at usurpation. In reality, if we look more 



337 

nearly at the elements of power at that time in the 
possession of the two parties, we may perhaps rather 
wonder, that the scale turned as it did ; and it may 
be very reasonably doubted, whether the success of 
the clergy would not have been, upon the whole, a 
much more favourable event. The clergy possessed, 
in the first place, the immense advantage of forming 
one community, and acting under one common 
head, while the military chiefs were all tenacious of 
their independence, and constantly divided among 
themselves. Hence the clergy were able to employ 
them against each other, and thus at once to carry 
particular points, and to weaken the force of all. 
The clergy monopolized all the education and intel- 
ligence of the age, the military being in general 
wholly uninformed. They were, of course, com- 
pelled to resort to the clergy for every purpose re- 
quiring intellectual accomplishments, and especially 
for all ministerial and judicial employments ; so that, 
in reality, they retained no part of the government, 
except the mere command of the armies. Property, 
the great element of political power, weighed at least 
as strongly in favour of the clergy, as of the military. 
They were among the greatest landholders in every 
part of Europe ; and in their judicial capacity they 
controlled, to a considerable extent, even the property, 
which they did not own. Why these subtle church- 
48 



338 

men, with all their superiority of intelligence and 
education, with all the advantages of union and 
concert, with so large a share of wealth, and the 
complete control of the civil administration, with 
the terrible engine of spiritual power at their dispo- 
sal, failed to obtain the ascendancy over a caste of 
superstitious barbarians, whom they could, at any 
time, turn against each other, or send off to the 
world's end upon a fool's errand, is, I think, an his- 
torical problem of rather difficult solution. It is one, 
however, which it would carry me too far to enter 
upon here. They certainly made the attempt ; and for 
every purpose, but that of mere form, they succeed- 
ed in obtaining and holding the general government 
of Europe for two or three centuries. The crusades 
were unquestionably a device intended to favour this 
object ; for the popes were never bigots, and in des- 
patching all the military chiefs on these distant ex- 
peditions, for two or three hundred years in succes- 
sion, they had something else in view besides the 
conquest of a sepulchre. They accomplished, in 
fact, in this way, the double object of relieving 
themselves from the only check upon their authority 
at home, while the expedition lasted, and of wasting 
the resources, and diminishing the effective perma- 
nent power of the chiefs. It is a common thing with 
protestant, and even philosophical writers, to treat 



339 

the attempts of the clergy to obtain the ascendancy 
in Europe, as unjustifiable encroachments upon the 
temporal authorities ; as if the power of these mili- 
tary tyrants had been founded in right, or had tended 
to promote the public good. Neither party had any 
such claims as these, nor could either allege the 
right of possession, which they held in common. 
The capacity or fitness to govern, the only preten- 
sion, which could be urged as a substitute, was 
wholly on the side of the clergy ; and I have very 
little doubt, that their ultimate prevalence would 
have been a great blessing to Europe. Under a 
general clerical authority, the military habits, which 
have been the scourge of these nations, would have 
fallen into disuse. They would have taken the 
form of one consolidated community, under a gov- 
ernment essentially mild and pacific. With the 
progress of civilization and philosophy, this govern- 
ment would have gradually laid aside its theocratic 
pretensions, and assumed the aspect of a merely civil 
institution. Europe would have thus acquired a 
political organization, which her enlightened states- 
men now anxiously long for, with scarcely a hope 
of ever obtaining it ; and which, should it ever be 
realized hereafter, will have been preceded by 
centuries of civil war and barbarism, that might 
have been prevented by a different turn of affairs. 



340 

This effort at consolidation having failed, the 
several states remained, in form, completely inde- 
pendent of each other, and Europe continued to 
present the spectacle of a great human slaughter- 
house. To make war upon each other was the 
habitual and only occupation of rulers. These 
barbarous and unmeaning struggles among peity 
military sovereigns were conducted, of course, with- 
out any reference to a general political system ; but 
it was natural, that, when a weaker chief was 
threatened or attacked by a stronger, he should 
attempt to engage his neighbours to assist him in 
repelling the aggressor. This course is every where 
pursued by individuals and nations in all stages of 
civilization ; and is rather a result of mere instinct, 
than of policy or reflection. We find it resorted to 
sometimes on a larger and sometimes on a smaller 
scale by the European governments, through the 
whole period of their history ; and however unsatis- 
factory and inadequate, as the basis of a great 
political system, it is the only substitute, which has 
yet been found in Europe, to supply the defect of a 
general government, and is now habitually employed 
for this purpose, under the name of the balance of 
power. 

The period, however, is not very remote, when 
this rude contrivance was first applied on a large 



341 

scale to the general politics of Europe ; and the 
consent of all the powers to this application of it 
may be regarded as an approach to the great object 
of consolidation. In the earlier periods of history, 
the governments were too barbarous to proceed upon 
large and general views. When Charlemagne was 
realizing a continental empire, more extensive and 
powerful, than any, which has since been under the 
sway of an individual, we do not find, that the 
powers, which were out of his reach, made any 
efforts to check his progress by a coalition. The 
great and good Alfred, then king of England, was 
on terms of friendship with his ambitious neighbour, 
although the attack by Charlemagne upon the 
kindred race of continental Saxons would have 
furnished him a sufficient pretext for making war. 
The Saracens in Spain, the Greek empire, the great 
caliph, Aaron the just, so celebrated for his policy 
and power, the Russians, the northern kingdoms, 
all were equally passive ; and Charlemage was left 
in quiet possession of France, Germany, Italy, and 
the Netherlands. At a later period, when Charles V 
had obtained an empire still more extensive, though 
less compact, uniting under one sceptre Germany, 
Spain, the Low Countries, and the greater part of 
Italy, with the vast regions of the newly discovered 
world, even then, notwithstanding the restless am- 



342 

bitioii of this prince, there was no systematic at- 
tempt, hy any coahtion of the others, to check his 
power. England, indeed, on the short sighted 
principle of rivalry with France, which has always 
formed the basis of her foreign policy, was more 
frequently the ally of Charles in his long wars with 
Francis, than his enemy. The northern kingdoms, 
the Russians and the Poles, were indifferent as 
before ; and the Turks, who had just conquered the 
Greek empire, had no other political system, but 
that of blind hostility to infidels. x\lthough the 
peace of Westphalia is generally said to have regu- 
lated the balance of power in Europe, the long and 
bloody struggle, which preceded it, was not directed 
against the preponderating influence of any single 
state. They were all indeed, at that time, too much 
distracted by intestine religious wars, to meditate 
schemes of foreign conquest. On this celebrated 
occasion, however, the respective pretensions of the 
principal European powers were, for the first time, 
adjusted by common consent ; and the principle of 
a balance of power, as now understood and acted 
upon, may be said to have formed the basis of the 
treaties then concluded, although the maintenance 
of such a balance was not the object of the preced- 
ing thirty years' war. It is therefore from this 
period, that we may date the adoption of the balance 



343 

of power, as a European system ; and, as I have 
already observed, the event may be regarded, as an 
approach towards consohdation. The acknowledg- 
ment of any tribunal, however irregular, for the 
settlement of the international concerns of the sev- 
eral states, had a tendency to prepare the public 
mind for the organization of political arrangements 
fitted on rational principles to effect the same object. 
The only occasions, upon which the new Euro- 
pean system was put in practice for the purpose of 
checking the ambition of a single state, previously 
to the late coalitions against the power of Bona- 
parte, were the wars of the allies against Louis 
XIV. Without any settled schemes of extensive 
conquest, which he had neither the reach of mind 
to form nor the military talents to execute, this 
prince had contracted the troublesome habit of 
making a campaign every summer against his 
weaker neighbours, more, as it would appear, for 
the purpose of exhibiting himself to the ladies of 
his court in the ' pride, pomp, and circumstance of 
glorious war,' than for any more serious object. 
This was good sport to the king and his mistresses ; 
but the Dutch, who were at the expense of it, were 
less agreeably entertained, and stirred up coalitions 
against the director of such dangerous amusements. 
The consequences to the king and his people were 



344 

extremely serious. The power of France was 
crippled for a century ; and by the universal dis- 
order, then introduced into every branch of the 
administration, the progress of the approaching 
revolution was greatly hastened. Louis, but for a 
mere accident, would have had the opportunity, 
which has since occurred to his successor, of enter- 
taining his brother sovereigns at the Tuilleries ; and 
had the custom prevailed at that time of con- 
demning crowned heads at the close of a war to 
imprisonment and exile, he might, perhaps, have 
passed the rest of his days at St Helena. At 
Utrecht, the general international tribunal was 
again appealed to for the settlement of conflicting 
claims, and constituted in the same irregular form 
as before. The wars, which intervened between 
this period and the opening of the French revolu- 
tion, were not directed against the ambition of 
single states. That of the Austrian succession 
was, on the contrary, the result of a joint attempt 
by several others to put in practice, upon a consid- 
erable power, then supposed to be in a feeble situ- 
ation, the policy which has since been exemplified 
in the partition of Poland. The king of Prussia 
came off with great success ; and retained secure 
possession of Silesia, the part which he had assigned 
himself in the Austrian spoils. By the alliance of 



345 

England with Austria, the attempts of France and 
her German allies were defeated. The war of 
1756 and the American war were almost whollj 
for colonial objects ; and no power on either 
occasion made pretensions to excessive aggrandize- 
ment. At the close of all these successive struggles 
the international tribunal of a general congress of 
ambassadors was regularly resorted to for the final 
settlement of claims ; and adjusted the respective 
pretensions of the several powers in the treaties of 
Aix-la-Chapelle and of Paris, in 1763 and 1783. 
Had the principal states continued for a length of 
time to preserve the same relative position, which 
they held during this period, it does not seem that 
it would have been a very violent step to change 
this irregular and occasional tribunal into a stand- 
ing congress ; and to bring conflicting claims to an 
adjustment without the cost and bloodshed of a 
preliminary war. The council of Amphictj^ons in 
Greece gradually grew up in this way ; and may 
be regarded as the next step, in the approach 
towards a regular general government, to the 
modern balance of power. Indeed, the difference 
between this latter system and that of the Amphic- 
tyons, or a still more consolidated union, is, in 
practice, rather formal than material, with the 
exception of the irrational, and were it not for its 
44 



346 

bloody barbarity, one might well say, ridiculous 
prelude of an appeal to arms, which preceded the 
opening of every session of the congress as it existed. 
But while these events passed, others were occur- 
ring and maturing, which not only prevented, for 
the time, any stricter alliance among the European 
powers, but entirely changed their relative positions 
and importance. 

It was during the wars of the allies with Louis 
XIV, that the genius of a single man conceived 
and carried into effect the revolution, which brought 
into the European, system the gigantic empire of 
Russia. Before this period, the Russians, now so 
formidable to the neighbouring states, had found it 
difficult to maintain their own political existence. 
They had been subjugated in turn by the Tartars and 
the Poles ; and the Swedes had pushed their con- 
quests far to the southward of the gulf of Finland. 
The empire had been, indeed, for the greater part 
of the time, a cluster of independent states, forming 
of themselves a political system apart from that of 
Europe, convulsed, like the latter, by the ceaseless 
wars of barbarous military chiefs, and wholly 
untinctured with civilization. The first preparation 
for the future greatness of Russia, was the appear- 
ance of one or two of these chiefs, equally barba- 
rous with the rest, but more energetic, who 



347 

succeeded in combining the several members under 
one head, and thus infusing into the body a princi- 
ple of union and vigour. Still the mass remained, 
as before, uninformed by any spark of policy or 
civilization ; and, in the natural course of events, 
the union, which had thus been effected, would 
have been dissolved again at the next change in the 
person of the ruler. But, at that critical period, 
there appeared, in this barbarous empire, and in the 
regular line of succession, one of those master 
spirits, which are destined, by character, to change 
the face of the world. This event, so extraordinary 
that it seems very little short of a miracle, decided 
the future fate of Russia and of Europe. By the 
influence of his genius and example, Peter the 
Great succeeded, in a single generation, in placing 
the superior class of his subjects upon a level in 
intellectual improvement with the most civilized 
western nations ; and by suppressing the Strelitz 
and the Patriarch, he removed from the empire all 
existing internal causes of disunion and weakness. 
A sagacious observer might even then have per- 
ceived, that a new military power had made its 
appearance, which was capable of counterbalancing 
the combined force of all the rest of Europe ; and 
which, by the internal development of its resources, 
was constantly adding to its strength and impor- 



348 

tance. Russia, in fact, from its Aast extent and 
population, and its peculiar political and social 
institutions, is able to keep on foot constantly, 
without an effort, a military force, fully equal in 
numerical amount, to the union of the greatest 
armies, which all the other powers together can 
raise by the most painful and ruinous exertions. 
This enormous force can be augmented at pleasure, 
as occasion requires, to an indefinite extent. It is 
under the direction of a corps of the most accom- 
plished and intelligent officers in Europe ; and it 
acts as a blind machine, at the disposition of a single 
superior will. There is evidently nothing in 
Europe capable of making head against such a 
power as this. Not all Europe, combined in oppo- 
sition, will be able to resist its progress, whenever 
this vast machinery is seriously brought to bear 
upon the independence of other nations by an able 
and ambitious emperor. The civilization of the 
Russian nobility created a new Macedon, in the 
north of the modern Grecian commonwealths, and 
it only wants a Philip to be as fatal to the liberty 
of its neighbours, as the other. 

The full importance of this political creation was 
probably not perceived at first ; but from the 
moment that the Czar had put his new machinery 
in motion, its effect was found to be irresistible ; 



349 

and from that day to this, it has not met with a 
single check of any importance ; for the supposed 
danger, from the power of Bonaparte, appears, by 
the resuh, to have been, in a great measure, imag- 
inary. Peter, while he was executing at home the 
most gigantic plans of external improvement, also 
took measures to make his importance felt at every 
extremity of the vast political world, of which he 
was the centre. The Swedes, the Poles, the Turks, 
the Persians, and the Tartars soon found they had 
a new neighbour to deal with ; and were too happy 
to abandon the acquisitions they had made in other 
times, and retire quietly within their own limits. 
Having completed their internal organization and 
secured their territory in all its points, the Russian 
monarchs began to turn their eyes towards the 
west ; and there is hardly a subsequent political 
crisis of any importance, in which their influence 
has not been perceptible, and it has gradually and 
steadily increased with every succeeding year. In 
the war of fifty six, the Russian troops were repeat- 
edly masters of Berlin ; and the fate of Frederic 
depended principally throughout, upon the turn of 
politics at Petersburg. Shortly after, the empress 
Catherine was seen disposing at pleasure of the 
crown, and subsequently of the territory of Poland, 
the ancient conqueror of her empire ; and the great 



330 

western powers, however alarmed at this portentous 
usurpation, coLild not venture to resist it, but were 
obliged to content themselves with an empty pro- 
test. During the American war, the empress 
placed herself at the head of the famous coalition 
of all the continental powers of Europe against the 
maritime ascendency of England, denominated the 
Armed Neutrality. Thus the new power was 
already looked to by all the rest as their avowed 
leader, in a most important political interest. 
Finally, the same power, at two different periods 
during the late wars, decided the course of general 
politics. Suvarof paralized, for a moment, the arm 
of the French revolution, and, if he had not been 
recalled, would, in all probability, have advanced to 
Paris ; and Russia was notoriously the soul of the 
late coalition which efifected the ruin of Bonaparte. 
Meanwhile, during the whole of this period, she 
has been pushing her conquests in the direction of 
Turkey and Persia ; generally advancing, some- 
times stationary, but never on the retreat. The 
emperor may now be said to hold both these pow- 
ers, in the hollow of his hand ; and will occupy 
their territory whenever he pleases. When Con- 
stantinople shall be a Russian port, and Persia a 
Russian province, what will become of the British 
empire in India and on the ocean ? 



351 

Tliis course of events, independently of the recent 
occurrences, to wliich I shall jiresently advert, es- 
tablishes, with sufficient evidence, the fact of the 
irresistible preponderance of Russia in the European 
balance of power. The same point has also been 
satisfactorily proved by actual experiment during 
the late wars. The attack made upon this nation 
by the whole military force of the continent of 
Europe under the direction of the most accomplished 
general that has appeared in modern times, made 
too under many highly favourable circumstances, 
was repulsed with perfect success, and ended in 
the ruin and disgrace of its authors, while Russia 
came out of the struggle without a wound or a scar. 
It is next to impossible, that any coalition of all the 
powers of Europe against Russia could ever bring 
such an imposing mass of military force, under such 
superior discipline and command, to bear upon her 
at once. This campaign may therefore be said to 
have proved, that the greatest array of strength, 
which the continental nations can muster, under the 
greatest advantages, is incapable of making the least 
impression upon this colossus. And, when the means 
at the disposal of such a power for breaking up a 
coalition, and turning its members one against the 
other, are taken into view, there is hardly a possi- 
bility, that it can ever be the object of a formidable 



352 

attack. The creation of this empire must therefore 
be considered, as having completely unsettled the 
balance of power in Europe, and made it impossible 
ever to establish one in future upon the same prin- 
ciples. This consequence is, in itself, a matter of no 
great regret to the friends of humanity. The system 
of a balance of power is essentially rude and barba- 
rous ; and the appeal to arms, which it supposes as 
the regular method of deciding adverse claims, is 
better suited to the character of the savages of North 
America, than to that of the christian nations of 
Europe. It is true, that this system appeared, as I 
have said, to be gradually tending towards something 
better ; and that an acknowledged general govern- 
ment might have grown out of it in time. If the 
influence of Russia were likely to impede or prevent 
tliis result, it ought certainly to be regarded as an 
evil. But it may well be doubted, whether its 
ultimate tendency will not be rather to favour and 
accelerate, than to oppose it. Omitting, however, 
for the present, any inquiry into this point, and 
supposing, with all the European politicians, who 
naturally reason, each in the interest of the inde- 
pendence of his own particular state, that the 
preservation of the balance of power is the great 
object of European politics, the question presents 
itself, what were the best method to counteract this 



353 

great evil of the Russian preponderance, and restore, 
i[ possible, the desired balance ? 

The general answer is obvious. Some great 
development of new power in the west of Europe 
was necessary to counterbalance this tremendous 
augmentation in the east, and to throw a fresh 
weight into the scale of the other nations. But how^ 
could this be effected ? The west of Europe has 
long been all settled and civilized. There were no 
apparent means of obtaining in this quarter any 
additional elements of political influence, unless the 
Atlantic island of Plato could be raised by machinery 
from the bottom of tlie ocean, and made to fill again 
the space, which it formerly occupied between 
Europe and America. This achievement has not 
been performed ; but the French revolution effected, 
to an extent which no politician could previously 
have thought possible, or have ventured to antici- 
pate, the object in question. By that political 
regeneration, a kingdom, which had become, by 
misgovernment, one of the least efficient of the great 
powers, was restored almost instantaneously to all its 
former energy, and even elevated, in the course of 
events, to a much loftier height of greatness, than it 
had ever before attained. The augmentation of the 
power of France, produced by the revolution, was, 
therefore, an event extremely favourable to the 
45 



354 

preservation of the general balance ; and was indeed 
precisely tlie one, which ought to have been desired 
and promoted by every politician, who attached any 
importance to this object. The most favourable 
position, in which the western nations could be 
placed for counteracting the influence of Russia, 
would be obtained by making France, the central 
power and rallying point of the rest, as strong as 
possible. And could the greatest augmentation, 
which the French empire under Bonaparte ever 
received, have been eflected quietly, and without 
violating the rights of other countries, it probably 
would, and certainly ought to have been looked 
upon by them, as a great general benefit. Even 
then the balance of power would have been by no 
means perfect ; because, as I have observed, the 
whole west of Europe does not possess the materials 
for counterbalancing Russia ; and if it were consoli- 
dated into one great empire, it would still be inferior 
in effective military strength to its great eastern 
rival. But this augmentation of the power of France 
would have greatly improved the existing state of 
things. With such a centre, as the empire of 
Bonaparte in its greatest extension from Hamburg 
to Rome, with such a vanguard as Prussia and 
Austria, supposing them to feel, as they ought, but 
do not yet appear to do, their community of interest 



355 

with the other western powers ; with Sweden and 
Denmark on one wing, and vSpain, Italj,and Turkey 
on the other ; with the fleets and finances of Eng- 
land to inspire and cement the coalition, there might 
be some hopes of opposing an effective resistance to 
the common enemy ; akhough, from the vice, inci- 
dent to all coalitions, even this mass of force would 
still be unequal to that of Russia. But since the 
only thing, that could be done, was to organize the 
existing materials in the best possible form ; and 
since the key-stone of the coalition would necessari- 
ly be an energetic central continental power, it was 
certainly the policy of all the western nations to 
promote, rather than to check the aggrandizement 
of France. It was more especially the policy of 
Great Britain, who had nothing to apprehend from 
that quarter in regard to her own territory. 

The subject did not however present itself under 
this point of view to the other governments, and 
they thought, or pretended to think it an essential 
object of European policy to check the increasing 
influence of France. In reality, the conduct of the 
allies towards France, through the whole period of 
the revolution, was probably never regulated with 
any view to the preservation of the balance of power; 
and their error rather lay in disregarding this object, 
than in mistaking the proper method of effecting it. 



356 

The first coalitions against the French were intended 
to promote the personal interest of the sovereigns, 
more than any general political purpose. They 
were directed against the spirit of liberty, rather 
than the aggrandizement of France. At a subse- 
quent period, when the power of Bonaparte had 
obtained its full development, it was doubtless the 
object of the coalition to check the influence of 
France, as exercised by him ; but even then, the 
immediate object of the war was rather to put an 
end to the abuse of power by a single unprincipled 
individual, than to diminish the essential greatness 
of the nation, in which he commanded. But the 
expediency of favouring and maintaining this aug- 
mented greatness, after the abuse of it had been 
stopped by the deposition of Bonaparte, was either 
not perceived or disregarded. The opportunity 
afforded by the French revolution of strengthening 
the general balance of power remained, in conse- 
quence, wholly unimproved. One great cause of 
this was doubtless the vulgar and senseless ambition 
of Bonaparte, who could find no other employment 
for the unexercised power of France, but that of 
oppressing and subjugating his weaker neighbours ; 
and thus converted into a great immediate evil, what 
was, in itself, of a nature to produce a lasting general 
benefit. But the allies can hardly be excused for 



357 

allowing themselves to be so much distracted by 
this pressing temporary inconvenience, as to lose 
sight of the real character of their standing and 
permanent policy. England, as I have said, was 
less excusable for neglecting this policy, because she 
had less immediate inconvenience to apprehend from 
the greatness of France. It is much to be feared, 
that she acted throughout upon her habitual short- 
sighted principle of rivalry with that power ; and 
that, under the various pretences of checking the 
spirit of disorganization, and of overthrowing a 
dangerous military despotism, she was labouring in 
reality to depress an ancient and accustomed national 
antagonist. If, as is highly probable, her persever- 
ing hostility contributed very much to inflame the 
ambition of Bonaparte, and to urge him on to new 
attempts, as well as to effect his final overthrow, 
Europe has very little reason to thank her for her 
exertions, or to admire her political sagacity. 

This view of the policy of Great Britain and the 
other allies, in regard to the French revolution, is, 
I suspect, at present, pretty general among impartial 
and reflecting men. But supposing it to be incor- 
rect, as far as it is unfavourable, and that this revo- 
lution was throughout so strange and anomalous a 
phenomenon in all its aspects, as to form an excep- 
tion to the standing rules of European policy, and 



358 

to require, that for the time they should be totally 
disregarded ; supposing this, which is ail that the 
most inveterate anti-revolutionary or anti-Bonapart- 
ean politician can dcmaud, it must still be admitted, 
that, after the fall of Napoleon, the necessity of 
observing these general principles returned in all its 
former force, greatly augmented, indeed, because 
the effective power of Russia had been much 
increased by her successful military efforts during 
these long wars. Russia was still more dangerous 
now^, than she had ever been before ; and her 
prodigious force had been so plainly exhibited, as 
to leave no excuse for overlooking it. It might 
therefore have been reasonably supposed, that the 
reorganization of the European system, after the 
close of the war, w-ould have been undertaken with 
a full view of this danger, and a determination to 
guard against it by every possible means. A brief 
review of the political arrangements made at the 
congress of Vienna, and of the subsequent events 
connected with the subject, will show how far any 
such object was contemplated, and how^ far it was 
effected. 

The congress of Vienna w-as the most remarka- 
ble session that has ever been held of the irregular 
international tribunal of Europe, whether we regard 
the vast variety and extent of the conflicting inter- 



359 

ests to be arlj listed, or the number of illustrious and 
elevated ])ersonages that were present. But per- 
haps this tribunal was never assembled under cir- 
cumstances more unfavourable to a successful 
execution of its functions ; and accordingly it has 
rarely met without producing better results. Two 
principal causes concurred to prevent this mag- 
nificent assembly from accomplishing any object of 
lasting importance to Europe. The first was the 
predominant feeling of hostility to France, under 
which it was held ; and the second was the 
presence and irresistible influence of Russia. When 
we recollect what were the predominant points in 
the true European system of policy, it is evident 
enough that it was quite impossible for the con- 
gress, placed in such a position, to succeed in 
establishing this system. The great objects to be 
effected were, in general, the three following : 

1. To weaken, if possible, the power of Russia; 
certainly not tO strengthen it. 

2. To strengthen, if possible, the power of 
France ; certainly not to weaken it. 

3. In other arrangements, not immediately affect- 
ing these two powers, to keep in view, as much as 
possible, the general object of diminishing the 
hifluence of Russia. 



360 

It is clear, at a glance, that in all these ])oints 
the policy of Europe was opposed by the feelings 
and composition of the congress ; and it accord- 
ingly happened, that those objects were all either 
overlooked or attempted without success, and that 
a course directly opposite to the true one was 
pursued upon every point. 

1. In restraining the power of Russia, the first 
and most important object, the congress completely 
failed ; and were compelled, however unwillingly, 
to sanction a very important augmentation of it. 
For the demand of such an augmentation there was 
really no pretext on the part of the Russian gov- 
ernment ; and the tenacity, with which it insisted 
upon the annexation of Poland to the empire, 
must have excited very painful anticipations in the 
minds of the other powers, in regard to the future 
policy of this terrible neighbour. The interest of 
Europe, far from requiring this annexation, rather 
required that Russia should abandon the ill-gotten 
acquisition of Swedish Finland, which had been 
obtained against every principle of justice and com- 
mon humanity. But the determined tone, which 
marked the demands of Russia in the congress, 
proved, that the supposed future danger of her 
preponderance had already become present. There 
was not only no question of the abandonment of 



361 

Finland, although the necessity of indemnifying 
Sweden for the loss was admitted ; but the de- 
mand for Poland was finally acceded to ; and this 
great kingdom, in the midst of the western powers, 
was incorporated with Russia. That the measure 
was in the highest degree impolitic, that it was 
ruinous to the balance of power, was universally 
admitted at the congress. It was opposed, as long 
as there was any prospect that opposition would be 
effectual, and longer. But what could be done ? 
The power, that insisted upon it, was one with 
which all the rest united could not venture to 
enter the lists. It was therefore agreed to for the 
same reason, that the occupation of Constantinople 
to-morrow, and of Persia or Prussia in the next 
campaign, would be witnessed by the other powers 
in silence, the very sufficient reason of irresistible 
compulsion. Upon this first and most important 
point, therefore, the proceedings of the congress, 
instead of promoting the general good of Europe, 
only proved the reality and extent of the danger 
that threatened it. It was evident enough that 
Philip had already taken his station in the Am- 
phyctionic council. On the other points, their 
measures were nearly or quite as much in oppo- 
sition to the public interest, without having, pre- 
46 



362 

cisely to the same extent, the excuse of unavoid- 
able necessity. 

2. The error of augmenting the power of Rus- 
sia, into which the congress had been led against 
its will, rendered still more imperious the duty of 
providing, by every possible means, against the 
danger of her preponderance. The first and most 
important of these means was to strengthen France ; 
a measure, which was also favoured by existing 
circumstances, and which the congress might have 
effected without difficulty, had they seen the im- 
portance of it. By sanctioning the union, which 
already existed between France and the Belgic 
provinces, they would have extended very consid- 
erably the territorial resources of that kingdom, 
without doing injustice to any body ; as the house 
of Orange had no claim or pretension whatever to 
Belgium, and Austria had no desire to resume it, 
but preferred an indemnity in Italy. Had the 
union of Holland with France been also sanc- 
tioned, the effect would have been still more 
favourable for the balance of power ; and now that 
a mild constitutional government has been estab- 
lished in France, a connexion with that country 
would have probably been agreeable, certainly 
advantageous, to tlie Dutch. The house of Orange 
w^ould have been ([uite satisfied with a pecuniary 



363 

indemnity, or if not, the pretensions of a single 
family can hardly be put in competition with the 
happiness of a nation and the interest of Europe. 
But the congress, instead of perceiving the neces- 
sity of augmenting the power of France, fell into 
the enormous and unpardonable error of supposing 
that the principal danger to the general tranquillity 
was to be found in this quarter, that France was 
the enemy and not the protector of the west of 
Europe, and that it was essential to take all possi- 
ble precautions against her ambition, the first of 
which was to strip her of all her late acquisitions. 
Such is the strength of habitual associations and 
impressions. The allies, having been for twenty 
years engaged *in coalitions against the French, 
continued, mechanically, to pursue the same line of 
policy as before ; and did not remark, that the 
state of circumstances had wholly changed, that 
the danger from France had been the result of 
extraordinary events, which could not possibly 
occur again, and that while they were wasting 
their strength in building bulwarks along the empty 
channel of a river which had shifted its course, the 
whole east of Europe was left unprotected, at the 
mercy of an overwhelming inundation. This was 
a fatal error in the congress, and was certainly 
quite inexcusable; for an assembly of cool and 



364 

experienced statesmen ought to have been superior 
to so vulgar an ilhision as that of mere habit. By 
adopting, as the basis of many important measures, 
the principle of taking precautions against the pre- 
ponderance of France, they vitiated, to the same 
extent, the whole European system. The real evil 
was overlooked, and in providing against an imag- 
inary one, which no longer existed, they employed 
their resources to no purpose, and by thus misap- 
plying them, deprived themselves of means, which 
might have been highly useful in a different 
quarter. France was not only stripped of her 
acquisitions, but subjected to heavy pecuniary 
contributions. A part of these was intended to 
defray the expenses of the campaign ; but a 
large part was destined to be laid out in erecting 
an expensive line of fortresses along the French 
frontier. Hundreds of millions have been wasted, 
and are now wasting, in heaping up these mounds 
of defence against the memory of Bonaparte and 
the revolution. The duke of Wellington makes an 
annual visit to the continent, and applauds the 
activity with which the works are pushed, and the 
skill with which they are constructed. Mean- 
while the troops of Russia and the allies, that now 
blindly serve her purposes, are pouring at large 
over the south and west of Europe, under the most 



365 

frivolous pretences, and without meeting a fort or a 
soldier to oppose them ; and the dangerous mon- 
arch of France, against whom all these precautions 
are necessary, is trembling in his palace, with the 
terror of a Russian invasion. 

Besides despoiling France of all her late acqui- 
sitions, subjecting her to a heavy contribution, and 
erecting a double line of military works to bridle 
her ambition, it was thought expedient to add to all 
these measures the establishment of a new king- 
dom on her northern frontier, intended expressly, 
as we are told, for a check upon this unruly and 
grasping power. Political writers, of some note, 
have pronounced the kingdom of the Netherlands 
to be one of the happiest creatures of the congress. 
This is, perhaps, not very high praise ; but such as 
it is, it can only be given under the influence of the 
same false feeling, which dictated the measure. If, 
as I have supposed, the greatest possible strength 
of France, consistent with the rights of other states, 
instead of being dangerous to the balance of power, 
is its principal and most important element, then 
the formation of this kingdom, purposely to weaken 
and embarrass France, was a measure essentially 
and radically vicious in principle. Had the plan, 
however, been as judicious as it was ill-advised, 
the employment of such means to effect it would 



366 

have argued but a small share of political skill, To 
suppose that a dangerous and encroaching state 
can be bridled by surrounding it with feeble neigh- 
bours, is a conception, which could only be formed 
by a very feeble statesman. Power must be checked 
by power, and not by weakness. It is just as reason- 
able, in principle, to suppose that the preponderance 
of Russia will be neutralized by the republic of 
Cracow, as that France can be held in guardian- 
ship by the kingdom of the Netherlands. If it had 
been really necessary to take precautions against 
the French power, it should have been done by 
bringing up some other state of equal or superior 
resources into contact with her frontier. Prussia, 
for example, should have been augmented by the 
kingdom of Hanover and the whole territory of the 
Netherlands, as well as the duchy of the Rhine, so 
as to form an imposing mass of force upon the 
northern border of France, capable of bearing the 
brunt of an attack, and holding her in check until 
a diversion could be made in a different quarter. 
The creation of the kingdom of the Netherlands 
was a measure as impotent and ineffectual for its 
professed objects, as the objects themselves were 
mistaken and injudicious. 

In reality, however, it may well be doubted, as 
I have intimated in a preceding chapter, how far 



367 

the creation of this kingdom was really intended to 
serve any general political purpose. Supposing 
the statesmen at Vienna to have mistaken the 
principles of Eurojjean policy, it would be doing 
them injustice, as men of acknowledged ability, to 
attribute to them the intention of neutralizing 
France, by placing in contact with her a state of the 
second or third rank. The probability is, that the 
measure was adopted under the iniiueoce of Great 
Britain, and with a view of opening new channels 
for the products of her industry. From the inti- 
mate political and family relations between the 
two governments, the market of the Netherlands is 
thrown open, almost without reserve, to British 
manufactures ; and this additional demand, from a 
\Yealthy population of more than five millions, is 
itself no slight advantage. From the peculiar posi- 
tion of the Netherlands, their existence, as a sep- 
-arate state under the patronage of Great Britain, 
also serves materially to facilitate the passage of 
British manufactures into the interior of the con- 
tinent. The accomplishment of these objects I 
take to have been the real purpose, for which the 
kingdom was created. It is also generally sup- 
posed to have been entirely a British conception, 
and to have been arranged at London before it was 
suggested at Vienna. 



368 

3. Having thus failed, in regard to the two great 
points of general policy, and having assumed, as a 
leading pruiciple, the necessity of weakening and 
embarrassing France, it was, of course, impossible 
for the congress to keep in view the directly oppo- 
site principle, which 1 have stated above as the 
third in importance. Accordingly, no trace can be 
found, in any of the arrangements, of a general 
intention to weaken the influence of Russia. It is 
one of the great advantages of this power for ex- 
tending its influence, that it comes in contact with 
the west of Europe on a long line of frontiers, 
broken up into a variety of separate states, which 
may be attacked in succession and turned, by influ- 
ence, against each other. Thus Prussia may, at 
any time, be overrun in a single campaign, as it has 
been repeatedly by France and Russia. In the rear 
of this power is a cluster of small states inde- 
pendent only in name, as regards their foreign 
relations ; and whose governments ask nothing- 
better than the opportunity of obtaining a little 
paltry aggrandizement, by selling themselves to the 
highest bidder. Hence, whenever it may suit the 
purposes of Russia to extend her power in this 
direction, she can obtain allies without difhculty in 
the heart of the enemy's country, to co-operate with 
her and assist her progress. Already, indeed, the 



369 

preliminary arrangements, for this purpose, have 
been made by family connexions with some of the 
considerable secondary powers, as Wiirtemberg and 
Baden. To foresee and prevent this danger would 
have been a thing not unworthy the high vocation 
of the congress. To do it effectually, the whole of 
Germany, including Prussia and Austria, should 
have been consolidated into one vast empire, a 
measure the more desirable, inasmuch as it would 
not only have contributed materially to the polit- 
ical security of the western nations, but was called 
for loudly and imperiously by the interest of the 
German people, which has been completely sacrificed 
to the hereditary pretensions of a few families. To 
these pretensions it was again sacrificed upon this 
occasion, and with it the best arrangement that 
could have been made in this quarter, for the secu- 
rity of Europe. 

In like manner the security of Europe and the 
welfare of the people of Italy, required that that 
delightful but unfortunate region should be deliv- 
ered from the shameful misgovernment, which has 
been so long consuming its strength, that the pre- 
scriptive pretensions of a few families should have 
been overlooked or satisfied by pecuniary indem- 
nities, and the whole country consolidated into one 
vigorous and powerful state. Such a measure 
47 



370 

would have been the salvation of Italy, which is 
now sinking rapidly into hopeless and helpless 
decrepitude ; and it would have introduced a new 
element of great utility and importance into the 
general balance of power. These were the 
measures which were looked for at the hands of 
the congress, instead of the union of Poland with 
Russia, the erection of the kingdom of the Nether- 
lands, or the building of a line of fortresses along the 
French frontiers. No doubt such measures might 
have justly been called vigorous, perhaps violent; but 
for what purpose are all the powers of Europe as- 
sembled in general congress, if not to take vigorous 
and violent measures for the public good ? It is the 
high prerogative and peculiar duty of this great 
tribunal to overlook petty pretensions and slight 
objects, to do substantial justice every where with- 
out regard to form and without respect for persons, 
and to keep their view fixed steadily upon the only 
two objects really entitled to the attention of a great 
European statesman, the welfare of the people and 
the security of Europe. By overlooking these 
great interests, by doing justice to every petty 
prescriptive claim that could be made out, however 
fatal to the general object of the public good, by 
mistaking the leading principle of European policy, 
and, in consequence of this mistake, vitiating the 



371 

balance of power in all its important points, the 
members of the congress proved either that their in- 
tellectual and moral qualities were below their social 
position ; or, w^iich is probably the more correct 
supposition, that an irregular tribunal of this descrip- 
tion is essentially incapable of adjusting the interests 
that are confided to it. 

Still, though the congress had failed in making 
the best arrangements against the preponderance of 
Russia, its errors did not annihilate the materials of 
power existing in the west of, Europe. France, 
though weakened and embarrassed, was still there, 
a great and vigorous power, to form the centre of 
an anti-Russian coalition. Germany, though disu- 
nited and misgoverned, still presented two imposing 
masses of force on the Russian lines to serve as an 
advance ; and the fleets and finances of England 
still remained, though impaired, to inspire and 
cement the alliance. It was only necessary, in order 
to turn these means to account, that the several 
powers should have felt their true position, and 
understood their policy. And, if the influence of 
Russia in the congress had prevented them at that 
time from taking the proper measures, it could be 
no obstacle to their afterwards adopting in concert, 
as independent states, whatever schemes of policy 
they might prefer. The basis of the new European 



372 

system, under these circumstances, would naturally 
have been a strict alliance between the three great 
continental powers, Austria, France, and Prussia, 
for the purpose of resisting in concert any encroach- 
ment from the north. England and the smaller 
states in the north and south of Europe should also 
have been parties to this coalition, and co-operated 
in case of need. And had these powers felt them- 
selves at liberty to overthrow the Turkish empire, 
and establish in the room of it a powerful christian 
state, a new element of great importance would have 
been introduced into the system ; and it would have 
obtained all the firmness and consistency, of which 
it was susceptible, under the circumstances, though 
still physically and morally inadequate to sustain a 
decisive struggle, with the overwhelming greatness 
of the common enemy. 

By comparing this outline with the course, which 
the several powers have pursued since the congress 
of Vienna, it is sufficiently obvious, that the true 
policy of Europe has been again completely over- 
looked, that at the present moment there is no ap- 
pearance of a balance of power, that Russia is the 
absolute dictator of the continent, two of the great; 
western states having consented to act as her lieu- 
tenants and allies, and that France and England, 
the two other great western states, are reduced, in 



373 

consequence, as European powers, to the condition 
of mere nullity. Without entering into much detail 
in regard to events, which are so recent, and of so 
notorious a character, I shall add a few remarks 
upon them, w hich will tend, I think, to establish 
these positions. 

The session of the congress had hardly come to 
a close, when an occurrence took place, which, 
though not in itself of material importance, afforded 
a strong proof, that the policy of Europe was not 
likely to take a very fortunate direction. I allude 
to the conclusion in the summer of 1815 of the 
treaty between the emperors of Russia and Austria 
and the king of Prussia in person, denominated the 
Holy Alliance. The ostensible object of this treaty 
was to establish a solemn mutual engagement 
between these sovereigns to administer the public 
affairs, which they had in charge, in conformity to 
the christian religion. As it is well known, that the 
emperor of Russia is, or has been, at times, under 
the influence of exalted devotional sentiments, there 
is great reason to suppose, that the ostensible object 
was also the real one, and that the alliance was not 
formed with any sinister intention. The measure 
savoured, it is true, rather more of fanaticism, than 
of sound good sense. The christian religion is not 
a code, either of politics or jurisprudence ; and the 



574 

sovereigns could therefore only mean by this en- 
gagement, that they would conform to the spirit of 
Christianity, and do what they believed to be their 
duty from religious motives. The expediency of 
so doing was so perfectly evident befoj'e, that it did 
not apparently require to be enforced or sanctioned 
by special engagements. A solemn promise on the 
part of three great monarchs to behave well in future 
Iiad, in fact, rather the air of a satire upon their own 
past conduct ; and might perhaps have been looked 
upon as a sort of amende honorable, for former 
neglect of Anty by themselves and their predecessors. 
But, supposing the treaty not to have concealed any 
sinister intention, it was still rather good, than 
otherwise ; or at least was perfectly harmless. It 
seems to have been so considered by the other 
powers, who were invited to accede to it, and gen- 
erally consented. The sovereigns, or their ministers, 
probably smiled in secret at the whim of their 
imperial brother, and, thinking themselves fortunate, 
that the caprice of so great a personage had taken 
so innocent a direction, very readily gave it their 
countenance. The British government took advan- 
tage of a real constitutional difficulty, and refused 
the king's signature. 

The only truly important thing about this treaty 
was its original shape of a confidential and strict 



375 

alliance between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. 
That Russia should wish to form such a union was 
perfectly natural ; but that Austria and Prussia 
should consent to it proved, either that they consid- 
ered the measure of no consequence whatever, or 
that they wholly misconceived their position in 
Europe. The basis of their future policy was, as I 
have already observed, a close alliance with France 
against the preponderance of Russia ; and by this 
act they abandoned France and the other western 
powers, and united themselves in a mystical league 
with the very sovereign, from whom they had every 
thing to apprehend, and against whom it was their 
chief object to guard. The only apology, which 
the proceeding admitted, was the one, already inti- 
mated, that the treaty was really of no political 
consequence, being merely an edifying parade of 
pious language. But had Austria and Prussia 
perceived, as clearly as they ought to have done, 
their true position, it may be doubted, whether they 
would have taken part in such a measure, however 
apparently unmeaning. The alliance of the giant 
and the dwarf carries with it so little, either of 
honour or profit, to the weaker party, that there 
could be no very strong motive for enacting it, even 
in sport. The union, however, not being founded 
originally upon a community of political interest. 



376 

was wholly destitute of any principle of stability ; 
and might, under other circumstances, have been 
shaken to pieces by the first political concussion. 
By a singular sort of fatality there commenced, al- 
most immediately after the formation of this alliance, 
a course of important events, which established a 
community of interest between these three sovereigns, 
in opposition to that of the other western powers. 
I allude to the rapid development of liberal political 
principles in all the west of Europe since the close 
of the war. By these events, the governments of 
Austria and Prussia were placed in a vicious and 
unfortunate position, both for their own interest and 
that of Europe. While, as independent nations, 
they have every thing to apprehend from the pre- 
dominance of Russia, and every reason to unite with 
France and the other western powers in a common 
understanding to check it ; as Governments, and 
according to their peculiar political notions, they 
have equal reason to be alarmed at the spirit, which 
predominates in all the principal western states, and 
is fast giving a character to their outward forms and 
national policy. In this respect they have a common 
interest with Russia ; and this danger being appa- 
rently more immediate and pressing, than the other, 
they have made no scruple of allying themselves 
with their great national enemy, and even availing 



377 

themselves of his military resources to repel the 
inroads of freedom. It was thus, that, in the declin- 
ing period of the Roman empire, the various factions 
supported their pretensions by the aid of barbarian 
mercenaries ; and gave an easy introduction into 
the heart of their country to its future conquerors. 
In this way the holy alliance was converted from 
an unmeaning parade into a real union, directed 
against the progress of liberal principles ; or, in the 
language of its members, against revolution and 
illegitimacy. Austria and Prussia were detached 
from the western states, and firmly united with 
Russia by an important community of interest ; and 
the only remaining chance of a balance of power 
was destroyed probably for ever. The alliance 
having thus acquired a substantial meaning, its form 
was no longer unimportant. The sovereigns had 
bound themselves by this treaty to conform to the 
christian religion ; that is, to do what they believed 
to be their duty from religious motives. Whatever 
particular measures might appear to them expedient 
were now to be adopted in a religious spirit ; and 
this spirit not being that of rational and practical 
religion, but rather an exalted and mystical sort of 
fanaticism, the necessary consequence was, that, as 
soon as the league had obtained a political object, 
the parties to it, or at least the emperor of Russia, 
43 



378 

pursued this object with all the false zeal and blhid 
obstinacy, that fanaticism naturally inspires. The 
erroneous policy of these powers assumed the most 
dangerous shape, in which intellectual weakness or 
error can ever exhibit itself; and an alliance, origin- 
ally anti-European, and which had now become 
illiberal, acquired at the same time a new and un- 
natural principle of force and activity. I say the 
alliance, because the emperor of Russia being the 
main spring and moving soul of it, the feelings and 
principles, upon which he acts, may be said to 
determine the conduct of all. It is doubtful, whether 
the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia, or their 
principal ministers, who are persons of much more 
political importance, share in the fanaticism of the 
emperor Alexander. They probably act under the 
influence of strong political prejudices ; and in their 
anxiety to provide for the security of the existing 
forms of administration, they overlook the ultimate 
danger to their own national independence, as well 
as to that of the other western powers, from the 
course they are pursuing. We see them accordingly 
promulgate declarations and adopt measures in the 
name of religion and legitimacy^ (a word, which, 
taken in a good sense, can only mean /Msiz'ce,) that 
not only outrage every principle of justice and 
humanity, and wholly vitiate the political system of 



379 

Europe, but strike a fatal blow at their own inde- 
pendence and that of all the western powers. 

Thus, at a moment when the preponderance of 
Russia is, more than ever, dangerous to the other 
states, and when the strictest union of all the rest 
would hardly furnish a sufficient mass of force to 
resist it with effect, this concurrence of circum- 
stances has detached two of the principal western 
states from the common cause, and united them 
closely by a bond of immediate interest with the 
common enemy ; has furnished Russia with a pretext 
for interfering in the politics of the west of Europe ; 
and by presenting this system of interference to the 
enthusiastic mind of the emperor, under tlie form of 
an act of religious duty, has impressed upon his 
character, perhaps naturally unambitious, a most 
violent princi|)le of activity and usurpation. Finally, 
the same circumstances have created in all the 
countries, that are threatened by" Russia, excepting 
England, an internal party, more or less considera- 
ble, attached by strong motives of immediate interest 
to the Russian cause, and opposed to the interest 
and policy of their own governments. Such is the 
present state of the balance of power in Europe. 

From the moment, when this development of 
liberal principles began to exhibit itself, the great 
extension of influence, which Russia would derive 



380 

from it under the present circumstances, was also 
made apparent. A course of friendly counsel to 
other powers was immediately entered upon, by her 
representatives at all the courts in Europe. The 
emperor employed his leisure in digesting materials 
for a pamphlet of friendly advice to the Germans, 
upon the state of the universities. Prussia was 
advised in a friendly way not to fulfil her promise 
of a constitution. The deputies of the Spanish 
nation, which had taken the liberty to reform its 
government without consulting Russia, were advised 
in a friendly manner to disavow all their proceedings, 
to admit that they had proved themselves to be 
knaves and fools, and that nobody but the emperor 
Alexander knew any thing about politics. The king 
of France was advised in a friendly manner not to 
govern in the spirit of the institutions, which he had 
himself established, with the approbation of his 
imperial majesty, but to give his confidence to a 
faction, whose views were adverse to the public 
good, although very friendly to the interest of 
Russia. Such, indeed, is the force of habit, that the 
emperor extended his system of friendly advice 
across the Atlantic ; and this most pacific sovereign, 
at the head of a peace establishment of only 800,000 
bayonets, thought it necessary to caution the rapa- 
cious and warlike cabinet of Washington, which had 



then an army of no less than 8,000 men on foot, not 
to plunge inconsiderately into hostilities with Spain. 
Such were the j&rst symptoms of this pretension to 
universal supremacy, which has since been put in 
force in regard to Naples and Sardinia ; and, w hat 
is still more extraordinary, has been publicly and 
ostentatiously avowed at the congresses of Troppau 
and Laybach. 

When the invasion of Naples by the Austrians 
was under consideration in the British parliament, 
the ministry, who were obliged to defend, in the 
most plausible way they could, the passive policy 
imposed upon them by necessity, pretended to 
maintain that the proceedings of Austria might be 
justifiable on the ground of the danger to her do- 
minions in Italy, from the establishment of a liberal 
government at Naples. The futility and absurdity of 
this system of defence are so obvious, and have been 
so fully exposed in every form, that it is needless 
to refute them here. But it is necessary to remark, 
in order to have a correct view^ of the policy and 
pretensions of the allies, that this was not the argu- 
ment employed by them to justify their proceedings. 
In their public declarations from Troppau and 
Laybach, they assert, on the contrary, in unqualified 
terms, the right, on general principles, of putting 
down revolution, whenever it displays itself in other 



382 

independent nations, and they constitute themselves 
the judges of the existence of the case. This is 
neither more nor less than an assertion by these 
allies of the right of sovereignty over the whole of 
Europe ; and when we consider that Prussia has 
been a passive and probably reluctant party to the 
alliance, and that Austria could not have ventured 
to stir a step in these proceedings without the 
assurance of support from Russia ; while Russia, 
on the contrary, acts with perfect independence, and 
is the real soul of the league ; when we consider 
these circumstances, it is impossible not to perceive, 
that the assertion amounts to a claim by Russia of 
universal supremacy. The only qualification to the 
claim, admitted by the language of these declara- 
tions, is the right of governments, as they are now 
constituted, to introduce, of their own accord, politi- 
cal improvements ; in w hich case, it seems, the 
emperor would condescend not to interfere. But 
even this slender restriction is withdrawn by the 
practical commentary upon the language of the 
allies, afforded by their actual proceedings in regard 
to Naples. Here the king displayed every appear- 
ance of cordially approving the revolution, and 
could not be brought, even at Laybach, to express 
a different opinion. Under these circumstances, the 
pretensions of the allies took the following form : 



383 

'If, in a case of revolution, the king disapproves the, 
proceedings, we claim the right of interfering in his 
defence. If the king approves them, however com- 
pletely he may be out of danger, he must be consid- 
ered as acting under compulsion, and the right of 
interference remains.' So that the only case of 
reform, in which they do not claim the right of 
interference, is that, in which they happen to 
approve themselves the character of the innovations. 
In other words, they say to foreign powers : ' You 
are at perfect liberty to do what we like ; but you 
shall not do what we do not like.' This I take to 
be a declaration of sovereignty. It must have been, 
as it was, peculiarly offensive to the British gov- 
ernment and people ; for the ' glorious' revolution 
of 1688, by which the constitution assumed its 
present shape, was very similar in spirit and form 
to that of Naples. 

It may be said, that this claim of sovereignty 
extends only to a single point ; and that in every 
other matter, but that of reform, the nations retain 
their independence. But the right of giving the 
law to foreign powers in regard to one important 
subject can only be deduced from that of general 
sovereignty ; and the nation, which permits another 
to prescribe its conduct in one particular, has for- 
feited its honour and its independence, as much as if 



384 

it had formally passed under the yoke. Besides this, 
the subject of political reform, in the present state 
of public opinion in Europe, involves in itself the 
whole government ; as that of the religious reforma- 
tion did at a former period. In every country the 
political w orld is divided into two parties in regard, 
to this subject ; and, according as one or the other 
of these parties prevails, the whole system of ad- 
ministration assumes a different aspect. The pre- 
tension of Russia and her allies to give the law to 
foreign nations in regard to political reform, amounts 
to the claim of a right to determine which of these 
two parties shall have the ascendancy ; and, conse- 
quently, which of the two adverse modes of feeling 
and thinking on political subjects shall pervade the 
whole administration. It amounts, in other words, 
to the pretension to regulate at pleasure the whole 
domestic and foreign policy of other nominally in- 
dependent states. 

A claim, so odious as this, would not have been 
publicly avowed, unless the parties that made 
it were conscious of the ability to put it in force ; 
and it is accordingly obvious, upon a view of the 
prevailing policy, foreign and domestic, of the several 
principal cabinets in the west of Europe, that the 
terror of the Russian arms exercises a powerful 
action upon the minds of their members. The 



385 

co-operation of Prussia in the league is probably 
itself an effect of this terror ; and there is no reason- 
able way of accounting for the breach of faith and 
strange vacillation of this government, in regard to 
the constitution, unless we attribute it to the efforts 
of an aristocratic party, not sufficiently powerful in 
itself to resist the public opinion of this intelligent 
and high-minded nation, but deriving force enough 
from the support of Austria and Russia to defeat 
the hopes of the people, and probably the sincere 
intentions and wishes of the government. The 
ascendancy of the emigrant party in France, although 
it has been favoured by the personal position of the 
royal family, is, in substance, as I have observed 
before, the result of foreign influence ; that is, of the 
influence of Russia. All parties in France know 
perfectly well, that the occurrence of any movement, 
which could plausibly be treated as a revolution, 
would be followed at once by another general inroad 
from the north ; and they also remember the friendly 
assurance, given by the powers at their last invasion, 
that at the next visit they should proceed a la mode 
de Pologne, and divide the territory. While, there- 
fore, the necessity of conciliating these terrible 
neighbours has been the great motive with the 
government, in giving an anti-national and illiberal 
colouring to their whole policy, the apprehension 
49 



386' 

of another invasion, followed by results still more 
fatal than those of the former ones, is probably the 
principal reason, why the nation has submitted so 
quietly to this system ; and it is hardly an exagger- 
ation to say, that at this moment the Cossacs are 
the ruling power in France. The insular position 
and maritime strength of England exempt her, for 
the present, from this domestic interference ; al- 
though it has been hinted, that during the queen's 
trial the influence of Russia was employed for the 
purpose of keeping the ministry in place. Whether 
this be true or not, England in her internal affairs 
is still substantially independent. 

In regard to her foreign policy, however, the 
case is quite different ; and the most remarkable 
symptom, which has appeared of the ascendancy of 
Russia in the west of Europe, was the passive 
unconcern with which France and England looked 
on during the late events in Italy. These powers 
had every possible reason for opposing, with deci- 
sion, the proceedings of Austria and Russia. The 
revolutions in Italy, and the consolidation of the 
Italian states into one powerful body politic, which 
would have been their result, had they been left to 
pursue their natural course, besides essentially pro- 
moting the interest of the Italian people, were 
events highly favourable to the balance of power in 



387 

Europe, and well calculated to check tlie influence 
of Russia. The British ministry evidently viewed 
the conduct of the allies in its true light ; and it 
would be doing them injustice, as men of ability, 
to suppose that they were really deceived them- 
selves by the slight appearance of plausibility, 
which they were able to give to their policy in 
parliament, on principles too, which the allies them- 
selves did not pretend to assert. The real justifi- 
cation, as well as the real cause of this neutrality, 
both in France and England, was the impossibility 
of opposing any effectual resistance to the determi- 
nations of the allies. It was the wholesome terror 
of the Cossacs, which at once backed the progress 
of the Austrian army in Italy, and neutralized the 
resistance of the cabinets of London and Paris. 
France had even a still stronger interest than 
England in supporting the Italians on account of 
her continental position, which makes the preserva- 
tion of a balance of power much more important to 
her safety. Accordingly, the reaction of public 
opinion in France, against the neutrality of the 
cabinet, was so strong, that it was on the eve, at 
one moment, of producing a new revolution there ; 
or at least a complete change in the policy of the 
cabinet. Had the cause of liberty been better 
supported in Naples, this result would unquestion- 



388 

ably have happened, and not improbably a similar 
one in Belgium, Prussia, and some other parts of 
Germany. In this case a general struggle for life 
and death between the governments of the east and 
the nations of the west of Europe wonld have 
followed ; and the battle of independence, which 
Inust come sooner or later, would have been fought 
at once ; and perhaps under circumstances more 
favourable to the success of the western powers, 
than may soon occur again. The cowardice and 
treachery of the Neapolitans, and the terror of 
Russia, which paralyzed the cabinets of France and 
England, gave a different turn to these events, and 
left the great final struggle to future years, perhaps 
to future generations. 

It only remains, in order to complete this view 
of the balance of power, as it exists, or rather as it 
does not exist at present, to inquire what proba- 
bility there is of a change in this state of things, 
which I have been describing, what means are still 
at the disposition of the western powers for resist- 
ing the preponderance of Russia, and what are the 
chances that they will be employed in the best 
possible way. Although Russia already rules in 
the west by terror, she does not yet rule by actual 
force. If the influence of the Cossacs is felt in 
France, their tents are not permanently pitched m 



389 

the Elysian fields. The war of western indepen- 
dence is still, as I have said, to be fought ; and 
until it has been actually fought and decided in 
favour of Russia, there will be room for hope and a 
chance of success for the other powers ; because, if 
we even suppose these materials of resistence to be 
in themselves wholly inadequate, they have still in 
their favour the possibility of some fortunate occur- 
rence of an accidental character. Accidents, how- 
ever, being, as such, beyond the reach of anticipation, 
it is only upon an estimate of the existing mate- 
rials of resistance, as they will probably be em- 
ployed, that any calculation can be formed upon the 
subject ; and the chance of success for the western 
powers, founded upon any such calculations, appears 
at present to be extremely small. What these 
materials are has already been stated in a general 
way. The basis of the true European system has 
been shown to be a strict alliance between the three 
great continental powers and the cooperation of 
Great Britain and the states of a secondary order. 
This system is, as I have also observed, completely 
vitiated at present by the unnatural and anti-Euro- 
pean union of Austria and Prussia with Russia. 
For, if Russia alone is more than a match for all 
the rest of Europe together, it is evident enough, 
that when she is aided by Prussia, as a passive ally, 



590 

and Austria as an active one, the latter carrying 
with her the effective command of the whole of 
Germany and Italy, the possibility of resistance by 
the remaining western powers is entirely out of the 
question. If, therefore, there is any chance of a 
restoration of the balance of power, it can only be 
in consequence of the detachment of Austria and 
Prussia from the triple alliance. But this event 
is highly improbable ; for the same cause which 
created or rather consolidated this alliance will 
continue to operate, for a long time, with increasing 
force, and as long as it operates, will of necessity 
prevent the dissolution of the treaty. 

Notwithstanding the persecution to which the 
liberal political opinions are now exposed on the 
continent of Europe, there is very little doubt that 
they will continue to gain ground among the 
people. This very persecution is, in fact, one of 
the principal causes which will promote their 
progress ; and as it is pushed to a greater excess in 
Germany than it is any where else, so it is in 
Germany that the progress of liberal opinions will 
be most rapid. This circumstance might at first 
view appear very favourable to the independence of 
the western powers, since, if all the German states, 
including Austria, assumed a decidedly liberal 
political aspect, it may be supposed that tiiey 



391 

would fall off from the Russian alliance and attach 
themselves to the constitutional states in the west. 
This, in reality, would be the case if the prin- 
ciples of liberty could be brought into operation 
instantaneously in every part of Germany ; and 
the governments of the several states be changed 
in tlie twinkling of an eye, without there being any 
possibility of the interference of Russia in the 
events connected with such a change. But this 
being impossible, and it being certain, on the con- 
trary, that such a result, though rapidly approach- 
ing, must still be preceded by an intervening period 
of disunion, and of bitter and obstinate strusfples 

Co 

between conflicting factions for ascendancy in the 
several states, it is evident that the development of 
liberal principles in Germany will tend to strengthen 
the influence of Russia in the west of Kurope, and 
to draw more close instead of loosening the bauds 
of the triple alliance. This influence already op- 
erates so strongly in Germany, as to prevent the 
quiet and natural ascendancy of liberal principles, 
and to leave them no other form in which to display 
their force, except that of violent explosions or revo- 
lutions. Such events, therefore, are quite probable; 
but their results would be ruinous instead of favoura- 
ble to the independence of the nations, where they 
occurred. Suppose, for example, an explosion to oc- 



392 

cur in Prussia ; suppose that the late attempt to effect 
a military revolution there on the model of that of 
Spain had succeeded ; what would have been the 
consequence ? Not that Prussia would fall off from 
the triple alliance and strengthen the influence of 
the west ; but that a Russian army would immedi- 
ately march into Berlin, and that the Emperor 
would then rule there by actual force, as he now 
rules by terror. If, by possibility and in the progress 
of time and events, a similar explosion could be 
expected in Austria, the result would be precisely 
the same. In Austria, however, there is at present 
no enthusiasm for liberty, and there is no probability 
of any attempt at revolution there for a long time 
to come. The whole north and west of Germany 
will have been distracted by these internal agitations 
and have been thrown by them under the direc- 
tion of Russia, long before the epoch of freedom 
arrives in Austria. 

Thus there appears to be very little probability 
that Austria and Prussia will be detached from the 
triple alliance, and consequently that the balance 
of power will ever be restored. Then by a singular 
fatahty the progress of the principles of liberty, so 
hostile in their character to those of the Russian 
government, is itself one of the circumstances most 
favourable to the influence of this government over 



393 

the western powers. It furnishes at once a pre" 
text for hiterference in the affairs of these powers, 
and an infallible means of sowing among them and 
in their borders the seeds of destruction and dis- 
union — the only thing necessary to insure the 
victory of any single great power over any coalition, 
hov^ever extensive and formidable. Intlamed by 
persecution, the friends of liberty in the several 
countries will linally lose their patience and their 
prudence, and be hurried into attempts at revolu- 
tion. Under pretence of checking these attempts, 
the Russian garrisons will advance from capital to 
capital, as their terror has already spread itself 
from cabinet to cabinet ; and should the discordant 
materials, now fermenting in England, burst out 
into open insurrection, we may see at last the two- 
headed eagle extend his wings triumphantly over 
the tower of London itself. 

Had the western powers understood their policy 
better, and were they united among themselves in 
such a way as to enable them to derive the greatest 
possible advantage from accidental circumstances, 
the present commotions in Turkey would have 
afforded them an excellent opportunity to strengthen 
the western and constitutional interest, and to obtain 
an important check upon the Russian power by 
erecting a new Greek empire at Constantinople. 
50 



394 

The late diabolical outrages of the Turks, upon the 
christian inhabitants of their territory, not only 
furnish a good pretext for other powers to interfere, 
but make it the bounden duty of the neighbouring 
nations, as men and christians, to rescue their fellow 
men and fellow christians from this horrible tyranny. 
I consider it as much incumbent upon the Euro- 
pean powers to unite at last and expel this horde 
of ruthless and bloody barbarians from Greece, as 
it would be upon any regular government to dis- 
lodge and break up an association of professed 
highwaymen. Having taken this preliminary step, 
the western powers, by restoring the Greek empire, 
would have obtained a new and very powerful 
ally, precisely in the point where a new ally would 
be most useful, and would serve but as a check 
upon Russia. But would Russia, having concurred 
w ith her troops in expelling the Turks, consent to 
put this bridle upon her own ambition ? And if 
the other powers, in the event of her refusal, 
attempted to obtain her consent by force, would 
the battle be fought in Greece, or in Germany, and 
with what success ? These questions might have 
been of great importance, had a better union existed 
among the western states. As the case now stands, 
the fate of Turkey will be decided by Russia ; and 
the present troubles will probably be the means of 



395 

extending instead of diminishing her influence ; 
akhough it may be hoped that they will be not 
wholly without advantage, to the unfortunate 
countrymen of Miltiades and Epaminondas. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The British Navy. 

Next to the Russian army, the British navy is 
the most remarkable engine of war now existing in 
Europe. It is not, however, like the former, of 
recent origin. England was alwa3^s a considerable 
maritime power ; and, since the decline of Holland, 
has reigned without a rival upon the ocean. For a 
short period, during the American war, the union of 
all the maritime states of Europe with her own 
colonies endangered her sovereignty. But in the 
late long struggles, she not only recovered all her 
former advantages, but carried her naval greatness 
to a point, which it had never reached before, and 
very probably will never reach again. At present, 
however, it is not threatened with any immediate 
danger. The United States exhibited, in the several 
actions of the late war, at least an equality of naval 



396 

science in all its branches ; but the nature of our 
political institutions does not permit us to aim at 
conquest by land or by sea. We have as little 
ambition to wield the sceptre of the ocean, as wil- 
liugoess to submit to the enormous burdens which 
it brings upon its possessor. Our permanent naval 
establishment will never be pushed beyond a very 
moderate point ; and in the future struggles, which 
may be forced upon us by the aggressions of other 
powers upon our commerce, as in the last, we shall 
always depend mainly for the actual annoyance of 
the enemy upon our private armed vessels ; while 
the gallantry and skill, displayed by our public 
officers in single actions, will serve, as they did then, 
to sustain and exalt the national character. It is 
only in the peaceful pursuits of commerce, that we 
shall ever contest the superiority of England ; and 
as there is no European power, from which it ap- 
pears to be in danger, she will probably remain in 
undisturbed possession of her watery empire, as long 
as the foundations of her power remain in other 
respects unshaken. 

' The trident of Neptune,' says a French poet of 
the last century, ' is the sceptre of the world.' The 
power conveyed by it is, however, of a very peculiar 
kind. A great navy is not, like a great army, im- 
mediately dangerous to the liberties of the nation 



397 

to which it belongs. The only inconvenience they 
can suffer from it arises from the immense expense, 
required for its maintenance, and for the conduct of 
the distant expeditions, which it tempts the govern- 
ment that wields it to undertake. It is, in like 
manner, not directly dangerous to the liberty and 
independence of other nations ; unless, indeed, as 
has never yet happened, it should exist in connexion 
with a great development of military power. In 
general, it makes no attempt upon the territorial 
security of foreigners, but, like other sea monsters, 
waits for its victims upon its own element. Hence 
a great naval power is, upon the whole, much less 
formidable to other nations, than a great military 
one, which is sure, in the end, to destroy the inde- 
pendence of every thing weaker within its reach. 
Still, within the limits which the laws of nature 
assign to its exercise, the former is equally liable to 
abuse, and has, indeed, within these limits, been 
abused in all ages to a still greater extent. The 
abuse of military power has at all times and places, 
where there existed any pretension to civilization, 
been confined to invade the national rights and 
public property of foreigners ; while the property 
and person of the peaceful private citizen have been 
left unmolested. The abuse of naval power, on the 
eontrary, has always partaken, in a greater or less 



398 

degree, of a piratical spirit ; and has uniformly been 
exercised upon private property employed in lawful 
commerce. Tlie remnant of professed piracy has 
in these latter times been dignified with the title of 
a rule of law ; and while it is reckoned uncivilized} 
inhuman, and against the law of nations, for an army 
to plunder private property on land, it is thought 
perfectly consistent with the same law, as well as 
w ith the dictates of humanity and the usages of 
civilized society, for a ship of war to plunder private 
property at sea. Thus, what is a crime upon one 
element, becomes lawful and just upon another. In 
the wars of barbarous nations, there is no distinction 
between public and private property. Every thing, 
even to the persons of the conquered, becomes the 
prey of the conqueror. But it is one of the strongest 
inconsistencies among the many which disfigure the 
public law of Europe, that the milder spirit of 
civilization, which has introduced this distinction in 
military warfare, shoidd have left in full force at sea 
the iron maxims of former times. 

The determination of the laws and usages of war 
by land and sea depends, in a great measure, on the 
disposition and character of the dominant powers 
upon these respective elements, and the superior 
inhumanity of the maritime code is, consequently, 
not very honourable to England. Ever since the 



399 

spirit of civilization began to mitigate the ancient 
horrors of war, England has enjoyed an almost un- 
disputed ascendancy at sea. Her influence and 
practice have, of course, regulated the laws of naval 
warfare : and to her must be mainly attributed the 
cruelty, by which it is still disgraced. England has 
not only continued with unrelenting rigour, up to 
the present day, the practice of plundering the private 
property of enemies at sea, but has pushed her 
pretensions to a most unwarrantable and vexatious 
extent, in regard to the private property of individ- 
uals of other nations, wholly unconnected with the 
quarrel. According to the maritime, w^hich, as I 
have said, is in substance the British code of public 
law, two governments, by going to war, acquire a 
sort of superintending power over the lawful com- 
merce of every other nation on the globe. The right 
of plundering the private property of enemies is, 
according to this system, so sacred and favourable, 
that it may be exercised upon such property, even 
in the hands of third persons ; and although these 
persons, confessedly w holly innocent of the quarrel, 
may suffer very much by the operation. Hence 
arises the pretended belligerent rij^ht of searching 
the ships of every peaceful nation on the globe, to 
ascertain whether there is any private property -of 
the enemy on board of them. These barbarous 



400 

usages, instead of yielding to the progress of civi- 
lization, were pushed, during the last war, still 
farther than they had ever been before. Under 
pretence of prohibiting commerce with an enemy in 
munitions of war, which had previously been done, 
England undertook to interdict the trade in provi- 
sions and even medicines ; and the nation, which 
sometimes claims the praise of being more civilized 
than any other, was guilty of the crime of attempt- 
ing to starve the whole innocent population of 
another country, and give it over to disease, because 
the two governments were at war. Considered as 
a deduction from previously existing usages, the 
claim was perfectly absurd ; and I regret, that it 
should have been sanctioned in a formal treaty by 
the government of the United States. Clothing and 
€very other article of private and domestic use might 
as justly have been declared contraband, and all 
neutral commerce with an enemy interdicted at 
once. Indeed, the pretensions of Great Britain did 
iinally arrive at this point; and, under pretence of 
declaring their coasts in a state of blockade, she 
actually prohibited for a length of time all neutral 
commerce with her enemies. The power of doing 
this, according to her civilians, conferred the right of 
doing it. It was fortunate, that they did not push 
the argument any farther, as it would have justihed 



401 

them just as fully in cutting the throats of neutrals, 
as in seizing their property. Finally, Great Britain 
claimed the right of examining the crews of all 
neutral vessels found at sea, and compelling the 
citizens of every nation in the world to keep them- 
selves constantly prepared to prove that they were 
not British subjects, under penalty of impressment. 
Such was the code of maritime law introduced by 
the freest and most enlightened nation in Europe, 
in this most enlightened age, which the world has 
yet seen ; and it was for resisting these pretensions, 
that the government of the United States was 
denounced by that of England as partial to France. 
For the last and most odious among these claims, 
such as the right of interdicting all commerce with 
an enemy, under pretence of a general blockade of 
his coasts, the right of impressment on board neutral 
vessels, and the extension of the character of contra- 
band to provisions, little or no pretence of authority 
was ever adduced ; and they were generally sup- 
ported by the summary argument, alluded to above, 
that power confers right. For some of the other 
claims, as the right of plundering the private prop- 
erty of enemies when found at sea, even in the 
hands of third persons, and the consequent right of 
general search, the right prohibiting all trade with 
the enemy in munitions of war, and finally the most 
.51 



402 

extraordinary pretension of prohibiting to neutrals 
in time of war all trade with the enemy, which they 
were not allowed to carry on in time of peace ; for 
these pretensions, authorities, more or less satisfac- 
tory, were adduced from the laws and usages of the 
worst periods of European history. Whether the 
case of England was made out, even on grounds 
like these, is a question which has not been settled, 
and is hardly worth examining. That barbarous 
practices should have prevailed in barbarous times 
among barbarous nations, is neither improbable nor 
unnatural ; the wonder is, that a civilized nation 
should consider the existence of them, under such 
circumstances, as a justification of their continuance 
in an age of civilization and humanity. By going a 
little farther back, it would be easy to find authori- 
ties of still more venerable antiquity in favour of still 
more savage usages ; such as killing and enslaving 
prisoners. If we reject with contempt the ideas of 
the dark ages on every other point of philosophy, by 
what fatality is it, that we feel ourselves obliged to 
conform to them, however absurd and cruel, in the 
law of nations, the largest and most important 
division of practical morality ? 

All the reasonings of the British civilians on 
these subjects are tainted with the enormous error 
of considering the cause of war as favourable, and 



403 

that of peace as unfavourable ; of supposing that the 
pretensions of belligerants must be liberally con- 
strued, and followed out into all their consequences, 
while those of nations at peace must be restricted 
and narrowed down to the bare letter. A large 
construction in favour of life is the humane maxim 
at Westminster hall ; but at Doctors' commons the 
large construction is in favour of death. Some of 
our own politicians even, in the frenzy of party 
spirit, were found to echo the principle, that the 
rights of belligerants are paramount to those of 
neutrals; as if industry and commerce were the 
curse and scourge of society, and war the prin- 
cipal instrument of civilization. Hence was de- 
rived the justification of what w^as called the rule 
of 1756, by which neutrals were prohibited from 
carrying on any trade in time of war, which they 
were not allowed in time of peace. This pre- 
tended justification supposed, that the right of 
neutrals to trade with one belligerant power was 
an unjust encroachment on the right of the other to 
annoy his enemy as much as possible ; and that 
although authorized by usage, it may and ought to 
be narrowed down to the strictest limits ; but that 
the right of annoying the enemy is, on the contrary, 
a favourable one, which may be pushed to the 
fullest extent, and through all its consequence^ 



404 

without regard to the interest even of innocent 
third persons. Bj constantly looking at the 
subject in this point of view, the British civilians 
became at last so completely blind to its real 
character, that they seriously argued the cause of 
war, as if it were the cause of humanity. One 
of the most remarkable pamphlets in defence of 
these pretensions bore the title of War in Disguise, 
or the Frauds of the neutral flags. The natural 
effect of commerce and industry, to escape by 
indirect means from some of the shackles imposed 
upon them in the most arbitrary and violent man- 
ner, is here described, as appears even from the 
title, not only as illegal, but as hostile and cruel. 
The benevolent writer melts into tears at the idea 
of a blood-thirsty and hard-hearted merchant under- 
taking to evade the kind regulations established by 
a belligerant in the common interest of humanity, 
for the sanguinary purpose of furnishing the com- 
forts and necessaries of life to those who want 
them. I am far from approving irregularity, as 
such, in any case, especially when, as in this, it is 
necessarily accompanied with perjury. But, after 
all, the cause of neutrals, supposing even their 
proceedings to be in contravention of the arbitrary 
laws of war, is the cause of humanity and civil- 
ization. If trade sometimes puts on a mask, the 



405 

disguise may be wrong, but it is peace that wears 
it, and not war. Should industry and commerce 
obtain, in difficult times, some slight advanta- 
ges even by irregular means, the case, I grant, is 
hard for the British cruisers who are thus cheated 
of their prey ; but is tliere any thing in it, at which 
a professed friend of humanity, like Mr Stephen, 
the president of so many bible and missionary 
societies, the member of so many institutions for 
suppressing vice in all its shapes and promoting the 
public good, need to take so much offence ? The 
war, which neutrals carried on in disguise in these 
days of trouble was the war of civilization with 
brutal force; and if stratagems are justifiable in all 
other cases, I see but little reason why this most 
sacred and necessary of all should be exempt from 
the indulgence. War in disguise was indeed a 
mode of presenting the subject more absurd, if 
possible, than false. But power, it is somewhere 
observed, is never ridiculous, and the truth of this 
maxim has perhaps on no occasion been more fully 
proved, than by the fact, that such pretensions and 
ideas as these were received in any other way than 
by a general chorus of contempt. 

The inconveniences and vexations, necessarily 
produced by the pretended belligerant right of 
search, even when the exercise of it is kej)t within 



406 

decent bounds, have always been sensibly felt by 
neutrals ; and they produced, in the time of the 
American war, the celebrated coalition of the 
Armed Neutrality, which was revived again for a 
short time during the late contest. The leading 
principle maintained by this coalition was the 
exemption of the priv ate property of enemies from 
pillage in the hands of third persons, a very imper- 
fect and inadequate assertion of the rights of 
humanity, but one to which, unfortunately, the 
most humane and civilized nation in the world 
could never be brought to consent. As she was 
also at that time and has been ever since the prin- 
cipal maritime power, the opposite and barbarous 
construction of public law is still maintained. It 
would have been, as is justly observed by a German 
writer,* a fit object for the attention of the congress 
of Vienna to determine the rights of neutrals at 
sea, and to establish a code of maritime law on the 
basis of common humanity. But in this particular, 
the presence and preponderance of Great Britain 
in the congress exercised as fatal an influence on 
the interest of all the other states, and the general 
good, as those of Russia did upon the balance of 
power and the security of the west of Europe. 

* Manuscript from South Germany; an anonymous work. 



407 

If, at a future period, a serious attempt should be 
made by a coalition or in any other way to remedy 
this evil, it would be highly expedient to strike at 
the root of it and not to stop at the very unsatis- 
factory point, at which the coalition of the armed 
neutrality fixed their pretensions. Supposing even 
that the private property of enemies were exempted 
from pillage in the hands of third persons, the pre- 
tended right of search would still involve many 
great and serious inconveniences ; and it is not less 
the dictate of consistency and good sense, than of 
civilization and common humanity, to remove the 
source of these mischiefs and at the same time 
introduce a most important improvement in the 
law of nations, by abolishing wholly the practice of 
plundering the private property of enemies at sea. 
The acknowledged basis of the law of nations is 
the great and universal law of nature ; and is it to 
be endured, that this sacred oracle shall be made to 
say one thing here and another two or three miles 
off, so it be upon a different element ? What says 
the illustrious Roman orator of this very law of 
nature in the well knownfragmentof the Republic? 
Nee erit alia lex Romcs, alia Athenis, alia 7iunc, 
alia posthac ; sed et oimies gentes et omni tempore 
una lex et sempitema et immortalis continebit. Such 
were the lights upon this subject nearly two 



408 

thousand years ago of one whom we dignify with 
the titles of pagan and heathen ; and with all our 
Christianity and civilization, we have since brought 
the law of nations to such a point of perfection and 
consistency, that it shall pronounce the same act in 
the same place to be highway robbery at low tide, 
and fair war at full sea. One would think the 
civilians nmst be lunatic themselves to make an 
action change its character from right to wrong 
four times in every twenty four hours, without any 
other change of circumstances than the ebb and flow 
of the tide in the place where it was committed ; 
yet such, according to the present law of nations, 
is literally the fact. The plunder of private prop- 
erty belonging to enemies by an armed force on a 
beach would be against the law of nations, and 
generally punishable with death ; while the same 
act, performed by a ship of war at the same place 
when covered with water at high tide, would be 
agreeable to usage and public law. While we are 
going back to antiquity in search of authorities on 
the law of nature and nations, would it not be as 
well for the honour of common sense, if not of 
humanity, to pass over the age of the crusades, 
when tlie nameless, I had almost said shameless 
compilations, so often appealed to in maritime 



409 

courts, were collected, and ascend to the time of 
Cicero ? 

All these questions still remain open l)etween 
Great Britain and the United States ; and as the 
attempts, subsequent to the war, to obtain from the 
former a renunciation of even the most odious of 
her pretensions have failed, there is every reason to 
suppose, that they will be renewed at the next 
opportunity ; and that the United States will be 
driven to the necessity of taking part in every 
future war with the enemies of Great Britain, who- 
ever they may be. The claims of the United 
States as a neutral power have hitherto been 
extremely moderate. They acquiesced in the 
principle, that enemy's property on board of neutral 
ships is good prize, and in the pretended rule of 
1756. Their uniform effort on these points was 
not to oppose the British construction of natural 
law, but rather to ascertain, if possible, what it was, 
that they might conform to it. Even in this they 
were never able to succeed ; and it happened 
repeatedly, that after the admiralty courts had 
settled a principle, and our merchants, in conformity 
with it, had covered the sea with their property, an 
order of council proclaimed a directly opposite one, 
and the wealth thus confided to the faith of Eng- 
land was swept from the ocean. It was only the 



410 

wholly unauthorized practice of impressment- on 
board of neutral ships ; and the last unwarrantable 
pretension to a right of interdicting ail commerce 
with an enemy under pretence of blockading his 
coasts, that the United States firmly resisted in 
principle. In the moderate and limited extent given 
to their propositions, this government has, however, 
consulted the spirit of the British cabinet, and not 
its own wishes and policy. Its uniform desire, on 
the contrary, has always been to give the greatest 
possible latitude to neutral rights, and to mitigate, 
by every imaginable means the horrors of war ; 
and this government even had the glory, by one of 
its early acts of sovereignty, of setting the world 
the example of an abolition by treaty of the practice 
of plundering private property in time of war, 
whether by land or sea. I cannot refuse myself 
the satisfaction of quoting the article containing 
this provision, from the treaty concluded between 
the United States and Prussia in the year 1785, as 
well for the purpose of doing honour to the nations 
that authorized and the illustrious statesmen who 
negotiated it, as of giving the sanction of two 
powerful governments and of some of the greatest 
names which the last and present century can 
boast, to the sentiments I have ventured to express 
on the subject. The treaty is signed on the 



411 

American side by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas 
Jefferson, and John Adams ; and, as far as I am 
informed, is the only one ever concluded, which 
contains a provision similar to that below^ in italics. 
The twenty third article is conceived in the follow- 
ing terms : 

' If war should arise between the two contracting 
parties, the merchants of either country, then resid- 
ing in the other, shall be allowed to remain nine 
months to collect their debts and settle their affairs ; 
and may depart freely, carrying off all their effects 
without molestation or hindrance ; and all women 
and children, scholars of every faculty, cultivators 
of the earth, artisans, manufacturers and fishermen, 
unarmed and inhabiting unfortified towns, villages, 
and places, and in general, all others, whose occu- 
pations are for the common subsistence and benefit 
of mankind, shall be allowed to continue their 
respective employments, and shall not be molested 
in their persons ; nor shall their houses or goods be 
burned or otherwise destroyed, nor their fields 
wasted by the armed force of the enemy, into whose 
power, by the events of war, they may happen to 
fall ; but if any thing is necessary to be taken for 
the use of such armed force, the same shall be paid 
for at a reasonable price. And all merchant and 
trading vessels employed in exchanging the products 



412 

of different places, and thereby rendering the neces- 
saries, conveniences, and comforts of life more easy 
to he obtained and more general, shall be allowed to 
pass free and unmolested ; and neither of the con- 
tracting powers shall grant any commission to any 
private armed vessels, empowering them to take or 
destroy such trading vessels, or interrupt their 
commerce.^ 

What is the glory of an Alexander or a Napoleon, 
compared with that of having signed such a treaty ? 

It would be worthy of the governments of two 
such nations as the United States and Great Britain, 
to establish a similar provision, by treaty, between 
themselves, and thus strike at the root of all their 
present diiOferences, and fix their relations for ever 
upon the basis of peace. In so doing, they would 
conform to the humane notions of the present age ; 
and the example of the two greatest maritime 
powers would serve to settle the principle, as a rule 
of national law. And I take the liberty of asking, 
who would lose by it ? If our commerce suffers 
more in time of war, than that of Great Britain, 
from national ships, our privateers are, in turn, more 
active and successful than hers ; and the rates of 
insurance prove, that the loss of the two parties is 
not very unequal. The practice is, therefore, in 
.substance, a war by the two governments upon the 



413 

commerce of their own citizens and subjects. Is a 
practice of this sort consistent with the spirit of the 
times, or of the governments of America and Eng- 
land ? And if a proposition were made to the 
British government, in the name of common hu- 
manity and the general good, to abolish the usage, 
could they refuse to listen to it and to give it their 
assent ? 

Such considerations, I am aware, have not been 
heretofore much employed in international negotia- 
tions, and to the shame of their rulers be it spoken. 
But the British government itself has of late given 
a remarkable example of a different sort ; and has 
urged for a length of time, and with great earnest- 
ness, upon other governments the adoption of an 
important political measure — the abolition of the 
slave trade — solely on grounds of common humanity, 
and without the prospect of any immediate advan- 
tage to either party. This subject has been, in 
particular, repeatedly and pointedly pressed upon the 
government of the United States. If now the 
American government should, in its turn, press upon 
that of England the propriety of abolishing the 
practice of plundering private property at sea in 
time of war, on the ground of humanity and consis- 
tency, I confess I am unable to see how the British 
government could object to the use of such argu- 



414 

ments, or could reply to them in any other way, 
than by refuting them ; that is, by proving that the 
practice in question is not injurious to the merchants, 
and inconsistent with the contrary one, of respecting 
private property on land — a course of argument, 
which could not be attempted. Should they take 
so false a view of their own interest, as to suppose 
that the practice was immediately profitable to Great 
Britain, it would be easy to reply, that the slave 
trade was also very lucrative to Spain and Portugal, 
and the other nations, upon which they have urged 
the abolition of it. But, in reality, it is obvious, as 
I have observed before, that the practice of respect- 
ing private property at sea would be not only con- 
sistent and humane, but highly advantageous to the 
whole industrious part of both nations, whose inter- 
est must be supposed to be the same with -that of 
the government ; and it is on this ground, as well 
as on the other, that it might be pressed with great 
force and advantage. 

The British government would have the less 
pretext for refusing to listen to arguments, founded 
in common humanity and the general good, in- 
asmuch as they have pushed the use of them in this 
matter of the slave trade beyond the point of discre- 
tion, in particular, as regards the United States. It 
is well known, that the United States took the lead 



415 

of Great Britain in abolishing this traffic ; and have 
shewn ever since, even up to the present day, a still 
more determined hostility to it, in their enactments 
upon the subject. Their last law, which subjects 
the crews of vessels engaged in it to the penalties of 
piracy, goes farther than any, that has yet been 
passed by the British parliament. As we have thus 
uniformly outstripped the British in devising means 
to check this odious commerce, it would have been 
natural, that they should at least do as much at 
home as we had done, before they began to stimu- 
late us to do more. But without waiting for this, 
they are constantly and anxiously pressing upon us, 
simply on grounds of common humanity, to make 
fresh efforts, notwithstanding that we have already 
done so much more than they. The mode in which 
they do this is not less contrary to common interna- 
tional usage, than the thing itself. Looking behind 
our public acts, and perceiving, or thinking they 
perceive, that they are occasionally evaded, (as, in 
the nature of things, they must be,) they make it 
their principal object to urge upon us to put in 
execution our own laws. Such extraordinary in- 
discretion would admit of no excuse, were it not for 
the intrinsic excellence of the cause, which covers 
and justifies every thing. In order to realize the 
better the true character of such interference, let 



416 

us suppose that tuiother nation, as, for example, the 
United States, should venture upon it with the 
British government, should point out to them British 
laws that are not enforced, and should press upon 
them for years the necessity of enforcing them, 
offering at the same time the armed force of the 
United States to assist in this object. Would such 
applications be received by the British cabinet in a 
friendly spirit ? The practice of impressment, as is 
well known, is in direct opposition to the whole 
spirit of British jurisprudence, and to various special 
statutes. Magna Cliarta declares, that no British 
subject shall be deprived of his liberty, except by a 
verdict of his peers and the law of the laud, which 
cannot mean an arbitrary order of the government, 
because the provision was expressly intended to 
prevent such orders. In like manner, the Habeas 
Corpus act provides, that every man, in any way 
deprived of his liberty, shall be brought before a 
magistrate within twenty four hours, and released, 
if there are no charges against him. As it is no 
crime to be a seaman, the enforcement of this regu- 
lation would defeat the practice of impressment in 
every instance. Or, reasoning from analogy, if a 
general warrant to search houses has been declared 
illegal, how much more so must be a general warrant 
to seize and imprison persons. Of the illegality of 



417 

the practice, there can be no doubt.* To maintain the 
contrary would indeed be to deny, that Englishmen 
possess that perfect security of personal liberty, 
which has long been, and justly, their peculiar boast. 
Suppose, then, that the government of the United 
States should urge upon that of Great Britain for a 
series of years, in the name of common humanity, 
the propriety of putting in force these just and 
merciful statutes, and abolishing a practice equally 
barbarous and illegal, and should offer to station a 
regiment of American soldiers on Tower Hill to 
assist in releasing seamen apprehended by a press 
gang. Indiscretion, I suspect, would be the mildest 
term applied to such a proposition. Yet such is the 
precise character of the interference of Great Britain 
with the American government, in regard to the 
abolition of the slave trade. Indeed, the American 
government would really shew much less indiscre- 

^ It was highly honourable to the colonial courts in Massachusetts, 
that they uniformly refused to sanction the practice of impressment 
within their jurisdiction. A solemn decision to this effect, by the highest 
authorities, took place not long before the revolution, of which an account 
may be found in president Adams' ' Inadmissible Principles of the king 
of England's proclamation.'' There was an earlier case of the same, or a 
similar kind, I think in the time of queen Anne, which is mentioned in 
Hutchinson. Considering the supposed difficulty of the subject, these 
decisions were perhaps still more noble proofs of an independent spirit, 
than the refusal by the same courts to sanction the relation of slavery, 
previously to the decisions in England to the same effect 

53 



418 

tion, in making sucli proposals, because the cessation 
of the practice of impressment would remove one of 
the great points of difference between the two na- 
tions. 

It is not however for the purpose of disapproving 
them, that I have pointed out the true character of 
these proceedings on the part of England. In so 
good a cause, indiscretion itself becomes a virtue ; 
and if, as I love to believe, the British government 
is moved exclusively by feelings of humanity and 
compassion for the unhappy Africans, I would exhort 
them myself to persevere in their efforts with other 
nations ; reminding them, however, that it would 
be more consistent to do in the first place at least 
as much at home, as the nation has done, which 
they undertake to stimulate ; and reserving to the 
other nations the right of rejecting propositions, 
however well meant, which violate the first princi- 
ples of national independence, such as that of em- 
ploying the British navy to enforce the laws of the 
United States. My object in making these remarks 
was to shew to what an extraordinary extent Great 
Britain had carried the practice of urging on other 
nations the adoption of political measures on grounds 
of mere humanity ; and thus to strengthen the 
remark, that she could not, without manifest self- 
contradiction, refuse to listen to such arguments. 



419 

when employed in favour of the principle of re- 
specting private property in time of war, by sea as 
well as by land. Let us hope that this provision, 
which seems to be imperiously demanded by a regard 
for consistency, if by no higher motive, will become 
in time a part of the code of nations. 

While the contrary practice continues, the aboli- 
tion of privateering, which has been occasionally 
suggested by well-meaning persons in the United 
States, would be highly injudicious, and directly 
unfavourable to the cause of humanity. Privateers 
are the natural defence of a weaker maritime power 
against a stronger ; and furnish the only possible 
resource for a commercial nation, which does not 
choose to load itself with the monstrous burden of a 
large standing navy. If the general practice of 
plundering private property at sea were abolished, 
privateering would of course disappear with it. 



420 



CHAPTER X. 

Concluding Reflections. 

In the first chapter of these remarks, I have 
expressed the opinion, that civilization, inchiding, as 
one of its branches, political improvement, is in a 
progressive state in every part of the christian 
world ; and in a subsequent chapter, I have stated, 
that the moral influence of the Russian power is 
already extending itself very fast through the 
neighbouring countries ; and that at no distant 
period it may very probably obtain an actual mili- 
tary dominion over the rest of Europe. As Russia 
is at present in a very low state of civilization, these 
opinions may appear at first view contradictory. 
The military occupation of the west of Europe by 
an uncivilized power would tend, it may be thought, 
to check, and perhaps entirely stop the further 
progress of improvement. Hence, if this event is 
probable, it might appear that civilization is not 
likely at present to proceed much further. In this 
concluding chapter, it will be my object to inquire 
into the probable results of the combined operation of 
these two different tendencies upon the political and 
moral situation of the christian world. 



421 

It may be remarked, in the first place, that these 
tendencies are not opposite or contradictory in such 
a sense, as, that if the existence of either be suppos- 
ed, that of the other must of necessity be denied. 
A community in a thriving and progressive state 
may be threatened from without by a barbarous or 
less civilized neighbour ; but an attack from this 
quarter, if it happens and destroys the principle of 
its prosperity, will not thereby shew that it did not 
exist. In reality, however, the prevalence of the 
Russian power, should it happen to the full extent 
I have supposed, does not seem to be attended with 
any material danger to the progress of civilization, 
or with any other ill consequences of much impor- 
tance. It appears, on the contrary, that it will 
exercise, in concurrence with the progress of civil- 
ization, a favourable operation upon the political 
forms of the European commonwealth ; and that, 
as it is the regular tendency of this progress to sub- 
stitute a consolidated general government, establish- 
ed on rational principles, for the present irregular 
system of international relations, so the extension of 
the Russian power, without materially counteracting 
the progress of the effects of civiHzation in any other 
respect, will tend materially, by its operation on the 
existing political forms of the several nations, to 
expedite this general result. 



422 

The present progressive state of civilization in 
the christian world will probably be admitted by 
correct observers as an unquestionable truth. There 
is, I know, a party in Europe, which maintains 
precisely the contrary assertion, which continually 
affirms that society is on the eve of dissolution, and 
Europe about to plunge again into a bottomless 
gulf of general barbarism and anarchy. But this 
difference of opinion, like most others, will be found, 
upon examination, to be wholly verbal. 'The party 
that hold these ideas mean, by society, the antiquated 
forms and establishments, which have come down 
from former ages, have already been greatly modi- 
fied in most parts of Europe, and are disappearing 
very fast in all. That society, taking the word in 
this sense, is on the brink of dissolution, is so far 
from being inconsistent with the supposition of the 
progress of civilization, that, in the opinion of those 
who believe in tjiis progress, it is one of the proofs 
and necessary consequences of its reality. And 
while the party in question express their apprehen- 
sions of the approach of barbarism and anarchy, 
they only intimate, in different language, the prob- 
ability of the same events, which are denominated 
by others the removal of political abuses and the 
introduction of improved forms of government. 
There is, therefore, in reality, no contrariety of 



423 

opinion in regard to facts ; but only an opposition 
of feeling respecting the character of the same sup- 
posed facts, according as their operation upon the 
interest of ditferent persons or parties is favourable 
or unfavourable. 

In fact, the present progressive state of civilization 
is so far from being doubtful, that the most superfi- 
cial view of the actual condition of the christian 
world must satisfy an observer, that it is now in the 
midst of a most remarkable crisis of social devel- 
opment, somewhat analogous to that, which occurs 
in the human body at the period of life, when it 
passes from infancy to manhood. The commence- 
ment of this crisis may be dated from the revival of 
intellectual activity in Europe three or four centuries 
ago, and the discovery of the passage by sea to the 
East Indies and of our western world, which were 
among the first consequences of this revival, and 
which, in their turn, tended materially to assist and 
promote it. Since that time there have been a continual 
and constantly increasing action and reaction of these 
two powerful causes. The increasing movement of 
intellect in every direction, that held out a prospect 
of advantage, led to the immediate exploration and 
settlement of the new found countries ; and this 
system of colonization, as it acquired consistency 
and extension, afibrded in its turn a strong en- 



424 

couragement to the progress of industry at home. 
New settlements are necessarily agricultural, and 
their first and most lucrative commerce is to exchange 
their superfluous produce for the manufactures of 
older countries. It is in a great measure to the 
effect of this action and reaction, that we must attrib- 
ute the remarkable progress of industry, wealth, and 
knowledge in every part of Europe, during the 
period in question ; and we find accordingly, that 
the countries, which have shewn the greatest activity 
in the system of colonization, are also those, which 
had shared most largely in this prosperity, as Hol- 
land, France, and especially England. Spain and 
Portugal, it is true, did not derive the same advan- 
tages from their vast colonial empire, in consequence 
of excessive misgovern ment at home. The demand 
from the Spanish colonies for European articles 
stimulated the industry of every country in Europe, 
Spain only excepted, which served as a channel to 
convey the products of the rest of Europe to America, 
and the treasures of Peru and Mexico to the rest of 
Europe. 

If, however, in general, the advance of civiliza- 
tion in Europe has been owing in a great measure 
to the effects of the system of colonization, we may 
conclude with assurance, that as long as coloniza- 
tion continues to extend itself, the civilization of 



425 

Europe and the christian world will also continue 
in a proportionally progressive state. 

Now it is obvious enough, that colonization, 
instead of being stationary or in the decline, has 
been extending itself within the last fifty years more 
rapidly than at any preceding period, and is at this 
present moment far more active than it ever was 
before. Since the first discovery of the passage to 
India and the new world, and the consequences that 
immediately followed, no incident had occurred in 
the progress of colonization, so important as the 
emancipation of the United States of America ; and 
the reaction of this glorious event upon the pros- 
perity of Europe has been favourable, in proportion 
to its importance. England, the country that resisted 
it so obstinately, and consented to it at last with 
such reluctance, has realized, in the emancipation of 
Jier colonies, the mines of wealth, for which the 
first settlers explored them in vain. At the present 
moment, another attempt, parallel in character, but 
of still more imposing magnitude, is rapidly ap- 
proaching to a successful termination ; and the vast 
regions of Spanish and Portuguese America must 
inevitably, in the course of a short period, present 
the spectacle of eight or ten new-born nations, ready 
to enter upon a rapid march of prosperity, under 
the auspices of independence. The reaction of this 
54 



426 

prodigious consummation, upon the prosperity and 
civilization of Europe and America, will be still 
greater than that of our emancipation, in consequence 
of the superior amount of population and extent of 
territory affected by it. In the mean time, coloniza- 
tion, though not advancing by such convulsive 
bounds, as in America, is far from being inactive in 
x\sia and Africa. The British empire in India is 
extending itself every day, by fair means and foul, 
over countries before unknown to Europe, even by 
name ; and has lately pushed its advanced posts 
up to China on one side, and to Persia on the 
other. The ambition, which leads to this extension, 
and the cruelty, which is too often employed to 
effect it, however fit subjects in themselves for 
reprobation and abhorrence, are instruments in the 
liands of Providence for imparting to these countries 
a hio-her degree of civilization and a better condition 
of society, than they now enjoy. The European 
settlements at the Cape of Good Hope, and on the 
western coast of Africa, are continually advancing 
into the interior of that continent. Meanwhile, 
another train of operations, different in its character 
and immediate objects, but leading essentially to 
the same results, has also assumed of late an extra- 
ordinary activity and development, I mean the effort 
U) propagate the christian religion by means of 



\ 



427 

missionary and bible societies through the different 
parts of the heathen world. The new activity of 
this spirit, in an age which is not, in other respects, 
very remarkable for religious fervour, is quite a 
singular event, and one which will contribute very 
considerably to the general progress of civilization. 
It is true, that the bible is not a book which can be 
read with profit by unlettered savages ; and the 
missionaries, who go out to explain it to them, are 
not much better acquainted than their pupils, with 
its true character and spirit. Still their efforts, 
though marked with every species of error and 
delusion, are far from being useless. These 
burlesque apostles are the pioneers of civilization. 
They push forward, where wiser men have no 
motive to advance, and where their wisdom would 
be of little service, if they had ; for nature, like 
a skilful general, knows how to turn to account the 
spade and pick-axe, as well as the sword and pen. 
These adventurers spread, where they go, some rude 
accounts of the countries from which they come ; 
and when they return, they bring back, in like 
manner, some imperfect notions of the places they 
have visited. A communication is thus opened, of 
which commerce and industry avail themselves for 
interested purposes. Emigration gradually follows ; 
and by mutual intercourse the social condition of 



428 

(lifterent countries, however dissimilar, is brought 
up ill time to the point of uniformity. These mis- 
sionaries are now labouring with exemplary zeal in 
various quarters of the globe. In British India they 
are extremely active ; and of late they are penetrat- 
ing into the farther peninsula. They are sowing 
the seeds of civilization in all the South Sea islands ; 
and if the hrst crop should be poisonous, instead of 
nutritive to the inhabitants, the final result will be 
a great improvement of their social condition. But 
though the probable effects of this system, in con- 
tributing to the extension of civilization, are not to 
be denied or overlooked, the main spring of this 
prodigious movement is still, as I have observed, 
the spirit of enterprize and industry, which first 
prompts the European adventurer to discover and 
explore remote, countries ; and tlien sets in motion 
the machinery of the European workshops to supply 
his wants, and opens the coffers of Europe to receive 
Iiis wealth in return. 

Europe, therefore, is the central point of this 
great universal system of colonization. Europe is 
the heart, through which the wealth employed in it 
is continually passing and repassing, as it proceeds 
from one extremity to another. And it does not pass 
and repass without leaving any advantageous traces 
of its progress; but it is received in one form, and. 



429 

elaborated into a new one, before it is transmitted ; 
so that industry is stimidated, and wealth and 
population increased, by the circulation. The wealth 
and population, thus augmented, tend in their turn 
to overflow into other countries, which are less 
thickly settled, and where the means of subsistence 
are more abundant. From the peculiar circumstan- 
ces, under which the colonizing system has grown 
up, it has happened that this overflow of population 
spread itself in the first place over very distant parts 
of the globe, although the regions in the immediate 
vicinity were also much less thickly peopled and 
highly civilized, than Europe. But as the superiority 
of Europe over the neighbouring countries and the 
activity of the principle of emigration are constantly 
increasing, a portion of this overflow must, in the 
nature of things, very shortly take a nearer 
direction. This result will be hastened by the fall 
of the Turkish empire, which must apparently 
happen very soon, if it is not, as now appears 
probable, effected by the present concussion. When 
this barbarous political structure shall have crumbled 
into atoms, the fine regions spreading from the 
Euphrates to the Atlantic, which have now for ages 
been withering under its deadly shadow, will be 
very soon overrun by the busy sons of Europe ; and 
will return to the high state of prosperity and popu- 



430 

lation, at which they stood from the earliest histori- 
cal period up to the invasions of the northern 
barbarians and the Saracens. The light of civiliza- 
tion will then shine again over the west of Asia and 
north of Africa ; and as the European settlements 
advance from this quarter into the interior of the 
latter continent, they will in time communicate with 
those, which are also forming on its southern and, 
western coasts ; and the mysterious paths, which 
lead to its centre, will be laid open to commerce 
and philosophy. It were better, perhaps, to wait 
wdth patience for the arrival of this period, than to 
despatch any more accomplished travellers on a 
service, which, in the present state of Africa, is no 
better than a forlorn hope. 

The Persian empire must fall at no distant period, 
like Turkey ; and that delightful country, which 
misgovernment has rendered uninhabitable, will 
become again, as it was in former times, the garden 
of the world. When Persia and Turkey shall be 
occupied by the Europeans, their settlements will 
then communicate over land with the British empire 
in India, and an extensive and lucrative commerce 
will establish itself in this direction by land and sea, 
and produce the most beneficial effect upon the 
industry and welfare of Europe. Meanwhile, as 
the population of the vast regions of Asiatic Russia 



431 

shall begin to thicken, and in time to overflow its limits 
in search of better climates, it will, in like manner, 
spread over Tartary, and communicate on the north 
with British India, and on the west with China. 
When the tide of European emigration shall begin 
to pour in full flood upon this antiquated structure, 
it may well be doubted, whether it will be able to 
stand the shock ; and it may perhaps be found, that 
in this quarter also, the first approach of improvement 
will bring with it the horrors, that naturally belong 
to the last epoch of barbarism. Let us ho])e, how- 
ever, that the Celestial Empire may not be destined 
to share the fate of Peru and Mexico ; and that if 
the Chinese do not prove themselves more courage- 
ous and politic than the unfortunate Americans, 
the Europeans, that first approach them, may be 
more humane than the bloody myrmidons of Cortes 
and Pizarro. The events, here contemplated, will be 
far from requiring for their accomplishment so long 
a lapse of time, as may perhaps at first view appear 
necessary. Consider what has been done within 
the last fifty years ; — North America emancipated 
and erected into independent states ; South America 
and Mexico brought to the eve of the same con- 
summation ; the whole south of Asia subjected to 
European dominion ; besides innumerable settle- 
ments in Africa, in New Holland^ and the islands. 



482 

These are events, which required a very diliereiit 
degree of preparation and effort from the conquest 
of the barbarous countries in the immediate neigh- 
boiu'hood of Europe ; and if these have been 
accomplished in so short a time, because the natural 
period in the progress of colonization, at which they 
might be expected to happen, had arrived ; the 
other, supposing always, what appears at present 
extremely probable, that the period for it is also at 
hand, will be effected, as it were, at once. When- 
ever this period does arrive, be it sooner or later, 
the whole Mahometan empire in its various branches, 
from the Indus to the Senegal, will be brought 
under the dominion of Europe, with a much less 
effort than that which attended the emancipation of 
the United States. 

Such, then, is the character of the present epoch 
in the progress of society. The civilization of 
Christendom, instead of being stationary or on the 
decline, is pressing forward v/ith a violent effort 
towards the conquest of the world. The reaction 
of this progress upon Europe is, as I have repeatedly 
observed, extremely favourable. Colonization has 
been the great instrument in bringing Europe to the 
point, which it has already reached ; and will 
probably elevate it in time to a much higher condi- 
tion, than is now by many thought possible. A late 



433 

intelligent German writer,* in a treatise expressly 
intended to examine the probable effect of the system 
of colonization upon the prosperity of Europe, seems 
to have adopted a different idea, but his reasoning is 
far from being satisfactory. He supposes that the 
emancipation of South America, and the establish- 
ment of manufactures in that country and in the 
United States, which he considers a necessary event, 
will deprive Europe at once of the demand for the 
products of her industry and of the consequent 
supply of specie to pay for them. Industry will thus 
decline in all its branches. Money will become more 
scarce and valuable ; and the public burdens, which 
are already very oppressive, will thereby be rendered 
intolerable ; and national bankruptcies, with their 
consequences, the destruction of existing political 
forms, and a long period of confusion and general 
disorder will probably follow. 

Such are the anticipations of this writer in regard 
to the reaction of the system of colonization upon 
the state of Europe. But he seems to have overlook- 
ed the fact, that the industry of a new people natu- 

* Europe and America ; or the future relations of the civilised world. 
By Dr Schmidt Phiseldeck, counsellor of state in Denmark, also one of 
the ministers at the congress of Vienna in 1814. I observe with pleasure 
that a translation of this eloquent and philosophical work has beea 
published in the United States. 

5.5 



434 

rally turns itself almost wholly towards agriculture ; 
and, consequently, that population and the demand 
for manufactures in such a society increase much 
faster than the supply of articles of domestic fabric. 
Now as the emancipation of a colony has been 
found, by the example of the United States, to 
encourage very much the progress of agriculture 
and population, such an event increases in the 
same proportion, instead of diminishing the previous 
demand upon Europe for manufactures, and the 
supply of specie and other articles in return. I see 
no reason to anticipate that the emancipation of the 
whole of America will have a less favourable effect 
upon Europe in general, than that which was pro- 
duced upon the prosperity of England, by the 
independence of the United States. This event, 
instead of depressing the industry of the parent 
continent, will therefore tend to stimulate it, and, 
instead of aggravating its present financial embar- 
rassments, will afford, if the thing is possible, the 
means of recovering from them ; and should the 
governments be prudent enough to keep clear of 
their causes in future, they will be able to establish 
the prosperity of their countries upon solid and 
durable foundations. The time will doubtless come, 
when manufactures will be established in all parts 
of America, amply sufficient to supply the wants of 



435 

the inhabitants ; and when they will cease to come 
to Europe for any thing but the products, that are 
peculiar to the soil and climate. But this period is 
still remote, and will not arrive till the present 
financial difficulties of some of the principal Euro- 
pean powers shall have run their regular course, and 
produced all their effects upon political forms, or 
the general condition of society. It will not arrive, 
till the social state of Europe has obtained all the 
perfection, of which it is capable ; and a stimulus 
on civilization from abroad has consequently ceased 
to be of any material advantage. Finally, it will 
not arrive, until the overflow of the civilization of 
Europe into the neighbouring countries, which I 
have mentioned as a necessary event, shall have 
long since occurred, and a European population 
shall have spread itself continuously in various 
degrees of density from Ireland to Japan, and from 
the North Cape to that of Good Hope. At that 
time Europe will be to the three ancient continents 
what New England now is to the United States, 
the most civilized and populous, the wealthiest and 
the happiest portion of a civilized and populous, a 
wealthy and a happy world of kindred origin. If 
at any period, subsequent to this, any other region 
shall be more populous and prosperous than Europe, 
thp circumstance can only arise from the superior 



436 

advantages of soil and climate afforded by it. The 
writer, to whom I have alluded, also appears to 
anticipate with confidence the overflow of European 
civilization into Asia and Africa, and even to regard 
it as a near event. He likewise allows, that it must 
for a long time produce a favourable reaction upon 
the state of Europe ; but he does not seem to have 
observed, that this supposition destroys in a great 
measure the basis of his unfavourable anticipations 
of the effect of the emancipation of America, ad- 
mitting them even to be well founded in other 
respects ; and he has not given it a sufficiently 
distinct and important place in his delineation of the 
probable future. 

We may conclude, that the industry of Europe 
will, for a long time to come, be under the influence 
of a powerful stimulus from abroad, that its activity 
will in consequence regularly increase, and that this 
cause will produce a progressive increase of wealth 
and population, and a regular tendency towards 
improvement in the social and political condition of 
the inhabitants. What then will be the effect of 
this progress upon the existing political forms of the 
several countries, and upon the general European 
government, which now wears the rude form of a 
balance of power, and may be considered rather 
as a future constitution in embryo, than as one in 
actual existence ? 



437 

The effect upon the political institutions of the 
several countries has been already sufficiently 
examined, having formed one of the principal topics 
of the preceding pages. It is, in general, to reform 
abuses, to correct errors, and to substitute institu- 
tions intended to promote the public good, and 
judiciously adapted to this object, for others that 
were originally framed for an entirely different 
purpose, and are now absolutely injurious, wholly 
superfluous, and singularly imperfect methods of 
obtaining desirable results. It is unnecessary to 
s|)eculate upon tlie precise form, which the govern- 
ments will wear, when the spirit of improvement 
shall have had its full operation. It may be observed, 
however, in general, that its tendency is to introduce 
institutions essentially republican ; or in other words, 
established on the basis of equal rights. Whether 
the form of aristocracy and monarchy, which, in 
such a state of things, are the mere shadows of a 
departed substance, will be retained by the force of 
habit, or whether hereditary magistracies and dis- 
tinctions "will wholly disappear, is perhaps uncertain. 
I am rather inclined to think, possibly from the 
partiality which a republican naturally feels for 
republican forms, that their simple and manly beauty 
will be perceived in time by the cultivated classes in 
Europe, and will obtain a preference over the 



438 

cumbrous magnificence and childish pageantry of 
courts. The great economy attending these forms 
and their real superiority for despatch of business 
are sufficiently evident ; and the example of the 
United States is annually refuting the vain charge, 
which European writers have made against them, of 
tending to create confusion and turbulence. After 
all that has been said of the stability of monarchies, 
and the agitations of republics, it appears at last, 
that the pure democracy of the United States is the 
firmest and most tranquil government now existing 
in Christendom. 

Assuming, then, that one of the effects of the 
progress of civilization will be to improve very 
materially the existing political institutions of the 
several countries, the further questions remain 
respecting its influence upon the system of interna- 
tional relations, which is now used as a substitute 
for a general government. If the same causes may 
be expected to produce uniformly the same effects, 
then in this, as in the other parts of the existing 
institutions, the tendency of improvement will be 
to substitute rational methods for arbitrary usages, 
and to change the present irregular mode of suiting 
the common interests of the several powers for a 
regular constitution, founded on the basis of the 
consolidation of Europe. It would be easy to 



439 

substantiate in detail the great probability, that such 
an event will occur at some future period, as well 
by general reasoning, as by the analogy of what has 
happened in each of the several great states. A 
thousand years ago, the British islands contained 
within their limits as many independent sovereignties, 
as are now to be found in the whole of Europe, as 
various in their origin and habits, and speaking as 
many different languages. Had any body at that 
time pretended to anticipate the period, when they 
would all be combined under one consolidated 
government, patriotism would have taken the alarm 
in every separate tribe, and a general chorus of 
contemptuous denial would have burst from the 
whole. The progress of civilization and the in- 
creasing intercourse created by it among these 
different tribes have gradually broken down the 
arbitrary geographical and political divisions, that 
separated them ; and the union of Ireland, at the 
commencement of the present century, finally com- 
pleted the consolidation. The same process has 
gone on with the same result in France, Spain, 
Germany, and Russia. Where from accidental 
circumstances it has not occurred, as in Italy, the 
loss of national existence has been the consequence. 
It was necessary that this consolidation should first 
take place in each separate cluster of neighbouring 



440 

tribes, before it could begin to exhibit itself on a 
larger scale among the several great states, which 
had been the product of its former operations. But 
we see very clearly, in the history of the two or 
three last centuries, the commencement of the same 
process between the parts of the general system ; 
and the usage of holding from time to time a 
general congress of ambassadors, to regulate the 
poliiical affairs of Europe, is a pregnant indication 
that something better is gradually maturing. 

But the establishment of a general European 
constitution, whenever it happens, will not be a 
violent innovation on existing forms, effected by the 
spontaneous act of the several governments ; for 
these are all jealous of their independence to a 
morbid excess. The progress of society will 
gradually prepare the way for such a change ; and 
make the passage at one time or another very short 
and easy from nominal independence to consolida- 
tion. The reformation of the existing. institutions of 
the several states will simplify their forms, and 
remove many of the objections to such a measure, 
which would present themselves at the present day, 
on grounds of mere personal vanity. Meanwhile, 
the continual intercourse between the different 
nations is rapidly effecting a consolidation in sub- 
stance. The educated classes through the whole 



441 

of Europe are already fellow citizens. They speak 
common languages, read the same books, think the 
same thoughts, have the same social habits, take an 
interest in the same subjects, and thus form, for all 
the real objects of life, but one great community. 
The political parties, that exist, are no longer sub- 
divisions of single nations, but differences of opinion 
and interest that pervade them all. The privileged 
classes form a caste^ not in this or that kingdom, 
but throughout Europe ; and they stand towards 
each other in the relation of fellow labourers in the 
same political cause — a connexion much more inti- 
mate than that of mere fellow citizens. The same 
sympathy exists between the educated but untitled 
part of the community, which acts as the representa- 
tion of the people. Thus the very evil of party 
divisions, though at present it greatly distracts and 
embitters society, tends powerfully to promote the 
final result of a general union. The extent, to 
which the actual amalgamation of the different 
nations has been caused, and the intercourse, which 
is kept up among them by means of correspondence 
and travelling, are not less remarkable, than their 
moral sympathies. The thrones and universities of 
all the north of Europe are peopled with German 
princes and professors. A quarter of the population 
of St Petersburg, including almost all the artisans. 
56 



442 

is from the same excellent nation. French officers 
and Swiss troops enter, in a considerable degree, 
into the composition of all the armies ; and the 
western parts of the continent are covered with small 
English proprietors, who settle there to avoid the 
heavy burdens to which they are subject at home. 
The effect of this positive amalgamation, though 
considerable, is however far surpassed by that of 
the close connexion between the different nations, 
created by travelling and correspondence. The 
Europe of commerce, of general politics, of letters, 
and of pleasure has no knowledge of natural divi- 
sions. The couriers pass from Constantinople to 
London, and from Archangel to Cadiz, without 
heeding any of these imaginary lines of separation. 
The great commercial houses have generally 
branches or connexions in three or four different 
capitals ; and a bankruptcy at Hamburg or at Mos- 
cow is felt upon the exchanges of Naples and 
Amsterdam, as sensibly as at the point where it 
occurred. The principal political concerns are, as 
I have observed, in common, and the political 
parties pervade the whole mass from one extremity 
to another. The French newspapers are read with 
the same interest at Petersburg, Vienna, Madrid, 
and Naples, as at Paris. The care of all these 
common interests produces a constant personal 



443 

intercourse by travelling and letters; and all the 
prominent and considerable part of a contemporary 
generation is on terms of personal acquaintance. 
Frequent intermarriages are the natural consequence; 
and as the several reigning houses are really branches 
of one or two common stocks, so the higher classes 
of these subjects may be said to form, in fact, but 
one great family. Unless, therefore, the principle, 
that the form gradually accommodates itself to the 
substance, shall prove in this instance to be false, it 
must be considered as certain, that these powers are 
tending rapidly cowards a consolidation. 

This consummation, like others that are brought 
about by the force of circumstances, will be accel- 
erated or retarded, according as the tenor of political 
events, as far as it depends on accident, shall be 
favourable or unfavourable. The prominent feature 
in the immediate future prospects of Europe, if the 
anticipations, in which I have indulged in a preced- 
ing chapter, are correct, is the probable prevalence 
of the influence and arms of Russia over the western 
nations. It remains, therefore, to inquire what will 
be the effect of this event, should it happen, upon 
the state of civilization and the establishment of a 
general government. 

If the Russian influence in the west of Europe were 
decidedly unfavourable to the progress of civiliza- 



444 

tion, it would check in the same degree the tenden- 
cy towards political union resulting from this 
progress. And as the mass of the Russian people 
is now in a very uncivilized state, it may appear, at 
first view, as if this would in fact be the conse- 
quence. But farther reflection may perhaps lead to 
a different opinion. The prevalence of the Russian 
power is not the prevalence of the rude barbarians, 
that constitute the bulk of the nation, but of the 
dominant class of proprietors, which is equally 
civilized with the same class in any other part of 
Europe. Their political influence, as far as it affects 
the body of society, would be exerted in the same 
direction, and produce the same consequences, as 
that of the authorities now existing. It will doubtless 
be, for a considerable period of time to come, the 
immediate interest of this class in Russia, to check 
the development of civilization, in one of its partic- 
ular forms, viz. that of liberal political institutions. 
Their whole exertions are now employed for this 
purpose ; and it is under this pretext, as I have 
observed, that they will gradually extend their 
political and military power over other countries. 
But this effort, in reality, counteracts itself; and the 
persecution of liberal ideas only increases the ardor, 
with which they are embraced and propagated. 
This temporary pressure will therefore serve to 



445 

prepare the way, at some future period, for violent 
explosions in favour of liberty. Meanwhile, the 
Russian influence counteracts, in another way, its 
own efforts in favour of arbitrary principles, by the 
strong encouragement which is given to the devel- 
opment of civilization, in every other branch, except 
the modification of political forms. The Russian 
nobles, who are doubtless the wealthiest proprietors 
in Euro])e, are also among the most active and 
munificent patrons of industry. In their private and 
social habits, as individuals, they unite the gorgeous 
magnificence of Asia with the fine taste of the 
western world, and encourage, by consumption of 
their products, the luxurious and elegant arts, more 
than perhaps any other class of persons whatever. 
There is something like enchantment in the 
height of perfection, to which this new nation has 
carried, as it were in a moment, all the graces and 
accomplishments of social life ; and the aristocracy 
of Europe no where exhibits itself under so favoura- 
ble a point of view, as in Russia, because it there 
adds to the refinement, which distinguishes the same 
class in other countries, a lofty niagnanimity of 
character, resulting from the secure possession of 
unbounded wealth and unlimited power ; advantages 
which the aristocracy elsewhere have either wholly 
lost, or live in the daily expectation of losing. The 



446 

Russian nobles speak with finished elegance the most 
cultivated tongues of the west of Europe, and are 
familiar with the polite literature of France, Italy, 
and Germany. The splendour of their princely pala- 
ces, surrounded with parks and lawns, in the finest 
state of gardening, and furnished with the costliest 
products of the taste and skill of the west of Eurojie, 
their collections of pictures and statuary from the 
workshops of the most celebrated masters, their 
large and valuable repositories of books and manu- 
scripts in all the languages of the world, their stores 
of wealth in the various departments of natural 
science, their astonishing exhibition of civilization 
springing up in the full luxuriant bloom of its highest 
perfection from a soil still completely barbarous, 
their union of fine taste and various accomplishments 
with the adventitious lustre of social distinctions and 
boundless fortune ; all this strikes very powerfully 
upon the imagination, and rather seems to realize 
the brilliant fables of eastern romance, than to re- 
semble the actual condition of any other society that 
ever existed. The scientific taste of these great 
proprietors is far from being a matter of parade and 
charlatanry. The botanical garden of prince 
Razumofsky, near Moscow, is probably superior to 
any other private collection in the world ; and we 
have seen the illustrious chancellor, count Roman- 



447 

zoff, fitting out at his own expense a voyage of 
discovery round the globe ; and giving at the same 
time a singular proof of toleration, by erecting upon 
one of his principal estates three churches on the 
same square, appropriated respectively to the Greek, 
Catholic, and Jewish communions, for the use of 
his tenants and subjects. The attention of these 
nobles, as a body ])olitic, or, in other words, that of 
the government, has also been steadily directed 
towards the promotion of literature and science ; 
and with the magnanimity naturally resulting from 
their social position, they exhibited a singular liber- 
ality in their political ideas, until occurrences abroad 
had shewn, that this system was too contrary to 
their immediate interest. 

The influence of such a society over the west of 
Europe is not, therefore, the inroad of a horde of 
barbarians under an Attila or an Omar, which sweeps 
away in its progress every trace of improvement. It 
is merely a change of power from the hands of one 
cultivated and civilized government to those of 
another, and will produce no unfavourable effect on 
the general state of society. On the contrary, as its 
immediate operation would be to increase the inter- 
course between the other parts of Europe and 
Russia, it would at once accelerate the progress of 
improvement in this vast region, and, by so doing, 



448 

give an additional stimulus from abroad to the same 
principle in the west. 

The effect of the increasing influence of Russia 
upon the political forms of the western nations must 
be considered as decidedly favourable, precisely 
because it tends to subvert these forms, and to sap 
the independence of the several states. The exist- 
ence of established institutions, founded on the basis 
of independence, and consecrated by ancient and 
immemorial usage, w ould always be a great obstacle 
m the way of consolidation. Hence the occurrence 
of a course of events, which tends directly to break 
down this obstacle, even though it be in other 
respects adverse to the general good, would prove, 
in the end, an important benefit ; and this is the 
operation of the prevalence of a great military power 
over the rest of Europe. Even where the inde- 
pendence of other nations is nominally preserved, 
the attachment to the name must be much dimin- 
ished, when it has been proved by repeated experi- 
ments, that the reality is wanting. Austria is now 
as independent a power, as before the French revo- 
lution ; but the value belonging to this nominal 
attribute in the opinion of the nation is doubtless 
greatly lessened by the recollection, that it has not 
secured their country from two or three successive 
occupations by the French armies ; and will aiford 



449 

them no safeguard from a similar occupation by 
those of Russia at any future day. France is also 
independent in name ; but after seeing the tents of 
the Cossacs pitched in the Elysian fields twice in 
two successive years, after seeing hosts of foreigners 
repeatedly enter and evacuate the country without 
consulting the inhabitants, every intelligent French- 
man must feel, that their pretended independence is 
a mere form without any corresponding substance. 
Thus the ascendancy of a great military power, 
even to the extent to which we have repeatedly 
seen it carried of late, tends very sensibly to impair 
the attachment to the forms of independence, and 
to smooth the way towards a general government. 
If Russia, m the progress of events, should carry 
her ascendancy so much farther than the preceding 
dominant powers, as to abolish the forms of inde- 
pendence, as well as to demonstrate their emptiness, 
and unite the whole under her own sceptre, this 
result would be itself the desired consolidation. Its 
form would be, in the first instance, objectionable ; 
and it would be a far more agreeable way of arriv- 
ing at the same point to substitute, by common 
consent, a regular general government for the exist- 
ing system. But this being in the nature of things 
a very improbable event, the consolidation, whenever 
it happens, will probably be assisted by some such 
57 



450 

accident ; and the temporary ascendancy of a mili- 
tary government may perhaps be looked upon as a 
necessary step in this process. The division of the 
several nations, and their nominal independence 
being thus abolished, the advance of civilization 
would immediately begin to exercise the same 
influence upon the new general government, that it 
now does upon each of the separate ones ; and the 
final result in this case, as in the other, would be the 
organization of an universal European commonwealth 
on rational and liberal principles. Thus the ambition 
or fanaticism of the Russian government, like most 
other moral and physical evils, while it produces 
great immediate mischief and suffering, may tend 
materially towards the promotion of a very important 
object connected Avith the general good. 

But it would be both presumptuous and unprofita- 
ble to indulge in any farther conjectures respecting 
future occurrences, which, however probable, are 
doubtless contingent and uncertain. While we hope 
that the final political union of all parts of Europe 
under a liberal government may be effected in the 
happiest possible way, and while we are obliged 
to regret, that this event still appears distant and 
doubtful, we may console ourselves, as citizens of 
the United States, with the reflection, that this great 
blessing is the birth right of our favoured country, 



451 

and that imagination cannot anticipate, or any 
accident, however happy, procure for our brethren 
in Europe any other or greater political advantages, 
than those of which we are aheady in actual 
possession. 



NOTE BY THE PUBLISHERS. 

The manuscript of diis work, as received from the author 
in Europe, being somewhat illegible, it is due to him to 
ask the indulgence of the readers for those errors, which 
have arisen from the impossibility of submitting the proof 
sheets to his correction. 



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